The Otherwordly Soldier
by Ninni51
Summary: So... I took my own life. Or, I guess I didnt, since I didnt manage to get even that right. But hey I'm in fire emblem now, I have a chance to be awesome right? And wait what do you mean I get to be cannon fodder even here? I bet that whatever ROB put me here is laughing at my expense right now. Self Insert. **Being rewritten, you can read but it ends abruptly**
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Portals, Zombies and (thankfully) Shepherds**

 **So, this is my first ever fanfiction since I finally got enough guts to expose myself to the public opinion, because what the world truly needed was another Awakening self-insert, amirite? Anyways, read and review.**

 **EDIT 08/04/2018: It's been barely two months since I first posted this chapter, I know, but it just felt much too horrible to leave it in its original state. I improved it. This is the first chapter 2.0.**

 _If a depressed teenager fails to kill himself and gets transported to a fictional world in a forest, when he falls does he make a sound?_

At first I was inclined to believe that you'd be crazy to ask me this question, and then, just to fuck with you, I'd tell you that something that cannot happen by default can't make a sound.

*sigh* But apparently no, he does indeed make a sound, a sound loud enough to wake up the dead.

Robin told me to write this diary. At first I was against it, but reading back on my adventures I got a good laugh out of it. And a good cry too. To be honest, some of these things still feel surreal, huh? But let's start from the beginning. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of "The Otherwordly Soldier". ( _Roll credits *ding*)_

I've been here in this blue void for a while now. I'm fairly sure that I'm in a state of stasis, because the fact that I'm not dripping blood despite having a fairly large and open wound could be explained only this way.

I've also lost any sort of sense of time. I feel like I've been here for decades; and 5 seconds; and an hour. I can't really tell you, my temporal perception is shot.

Guess I should start with introductions, huh? My name is Nicholas, but I go by Nick. I'm a 15 years old boy, fairly short, barely 5'2, with green hair (I dyed it) and a fairly thin physique. You now know more about me than the average person. Woohoo!

And as of… I have no idea, I should be by all means dead. I mean, you don't recover easily from a stab in the chest right next to the heart easily without being rescued by someone, right? Right.

So why am I not dead, exactly? That… I can't tell you. Like, I still haven't found an explanation for it. If I ever happen to come across something that makes sense about my situation, I'll be sure to let you know.

The sensation I'm currently feeling is pretty much like not being able to breathe, but not needing air at the same time. It's hard to describe.

But then… I would say that's the light at the end of a tunnel, but this place isn't exactly dark… Is that another portal? I reached towards it, and suddenly, I was shooting entirely too fast towards it.

 _*thud*_

…

For anyone wondering, that was me meeting the ground face first. Hello ground.

"Lissa, run." "Huh?" "I mean it! Go!"

This is the first thing I heard. I mean, after faceplanting on the ground from a 5 ft fall. Which, in itself, was pretty disappointing for a variety of reasons. The first being that I faceplanted after falling from a portal. Marth, who I caught a brief glimpse of, managed to stick the landing 10/10, gold medal, while I did a perfect zero. Noice.

Second reason of my disappointment is that I'm alive. I guess I can manage to fuck up even my suicide, which shouldn't be that hard. My comatose mind showing me Fire Emblem Awakening (One of my favorite games in like ever) was just the icing on the cake. And I didn't even get to be Robin! I mean, I know that we can't all get to be Robin, but man. Instant friends, best unit in the game (aside from Chrom/Lucina Morgan) and plot relevance. Who wouldn't wanna be him? Also, I've been left behind by the rest of the peeps who ran away, not bothering a 15 year old boy being dropped from giant eye portal thing on the ground. Or maybe they think I am a risen? I don't know. But I guess they have their priorities straight, unlike me who is just lying here talking to myself. Do I have a concussion? I think I may have a concussion.

Huh. I haven't been hit by one of the fireballs in this raging inferno yet. Which is pretty weird and convenient. Is this plot armor acting up or soOHSHITRUNRUNRUN

A sharp pain lances in my torso, right next to the heart (my aim always sucked) as it reminded me that I have yes, indeed, embedded a knife in my own gut. Which, for some unholy reason, is no longer there. I mean, now that I am not having an anxiety attack I'm grateful, since I'm currently too occupied to act upon my depression, and do not need that to distract me, but still. Pain.

CONCENTRATE ON DODGING YOU FUCKING ID-

So, I made a run for it. And I may or may not have screamed like a little girl in the meantime. That'll be our little secret. In my defense, I honestly didn't expect that suicide would bring me from the metaphorical hell that is life (I may be exaggerating) to a more literal hell. The more you know. I had never been firmly Cristian; despite being raised in that kind of family. I just didn't feel like believing to something without proof. Anyhow, I managed to limp my way out of the fireballs' range, that was delineated by everything not being On Fucking Fire™.

Upon further inspection of my surroundings, however, I realized that I'm now in the middle of a GODDAMN Risen horde. Way to go me.

To celebrate I even do a little fist pump.

Huh, blood loss does weird things to your brain. I looked down at my chest, which is now sporting a rather deep gash, the blood completely soaking my favorite hoodie. Traitorous blood! Stop ruining my clothes! I command you!

It didn't listen and instead resumed its blood dripping purpose on the ground, since the hoodie was already soaked.

Drop.

Drop.

Drop.

Dr-oh hi Mr. Risen that in the meantime decided that I'm alive enough to do something about it.

"Good evening." I greet the undead barbarian in front of me. I know that he's a zombie, but mom taught me to always be friendly to people, despite the differences in ethnicities. First impressions matter. Sadly, the guy just proceeds to raise his axe for a painfully telegraphed attempt at slicing me into tiny Nick bits. Rude. At least the bandits would taunt you before turning you into mature content.

I weighed my options as the guy recovered from the attack. I could attack this guy barehanded, with virtually no hand to hand combat skills, and either cover myself in guts or most likely getting myself turned into fine Me-meat.

Do vapor zombies even leave guts when you kill them? They just kinda disappear sinking into the ground after you kill them in the game. Nevertheless, I could run away screaming bloody murder as I've done pretty much up until now. These guys are slow, and I could avoid being gutted before getting even recruited in the Shepherds.

You know, thinking about it, the second choice sounds a whole lot more appealing.

A jolt of pain snaps me out of my daze as an arrow embeds itself into my forearm. Joke's on you other protagonists who their creators embed arrows in their shoulder. I'M ORIGINAL! Yeah, I should probably run away. Maybe I can rendezvous with Chrom and the others and see if Lissa can heal me. They're nice people, so they will do something to help me.

That, or I could finish the job with the arrow that's in my forearm, or let myself get sliced down by a Risen. Would I become a vapor zombie myself if I die? That'd suck.

Meh, I don't feel like dying twice today anyways. I resume my running at a sedated pace cause I'm still bleeding out and I lack general running abilities.

Suddenly spotting bright white hair (seriously, in the night it's like a fucking beacon) I head towards who I presume is our favourite tactician. That's right, you heard me! Fuck you Mark! You aren't even a real character! You're just there for self-insert purposes!

I scream a "Hey!" towards him, waving with the hand that doesn't have an arrow stuck in it, and he turns towards me firing a thunder spell in a panic. I shielded myself with my arms and…

It didn't hurt?

I looked down at myself and saw for a moment that my arms were coated in a blue glow which dissipated quickly. Do I have that high a Res that I can ignore a spell from the Wings of Despair, the Breath of Ruin, the Dark God Grima!™?

I'm brought out of my musings however as said tactician quickly rushes to me once he realized that I wasn't a threat.

"I'm sorry! Are you alright?" He asks, concerned.

"Not really, but let's pretend I am. Are you alone?" I ask. I honestly hope this isn't some weird AU where he just found himself alone, because I really need someone to kick butt in my stead.

I mean, I could PROBABLY deal with some vapour zombies, but I'm injured.

"No, I'm with a group called the Shepherds. Who are you?" He asks.

"The name's Nick. When you're done with these zombies, can you bring help? I don't think I'll last much longer like this." I plead as the weariness finally catches up to me and I sway dangerously as he holds me upright. He nods, turning- and suddenly another thunder spell is rushing towards me. Or rather, above me as it fries another Risen that had gotten too close.

Aaaaand there he goes. Speeding off to the rest of the Shepherds, barking out orders. Man, the Robin here is a pansy. Takes order from someone that barely reaches his chest. He's tall.

Not my brightest moment, I know.

Luckily for me, the sound of hooves clacking on the ground warned me of the arrival of someone, that, if I remember correctly (since you barely see any cavaliers up until the Valm arc) are our reinforcements. All two of them. (Or did Kellam come as well? People have trouble noticing the guy. I don't know if it's an actual talent or just him being quiet.)

"You alright kid?" No, I'm not alright, thank you very much for asking. Kinda having to lean against a tree just to stay upright, clutching the place where the arrow landed. "I'm bleeding out here, but sure, I'm dandy." I replied sarcastically. I'm normally not this aggressive with people, but I'm having a moment here.

"No need to grow an attitude on me kid." She raised her arms in a pacifying gesture, to which I simply shot a dry look and continued nursing my arm.

"Do you know where the captain is, _kid_?" It's already the third time she calls me a kid in three phrases that she said. I'm fifteen years old for god's sake! I'm a young adult!

Resisting the urge to badmouth her, I simply reply instead. "And who is your captain? I kinda really don't know you at all…?" While this is just a silly dream, I want to keep up appearances. I _technically_ don't know her, and should act as if I don't. "Right. The name's Sully, and the captain is the prince of Ylisse." Wow, much for security, aren'tcha? I may be a spy for all she knows. "The blue guy?" I ask with a sleepy look. I'm pretty close to passing out here and now, and I **really** would enjoy some medical attention. How are people so inattentive?!

"Yeah." She curtly replies.

"I think he's somewhere over th-" but before I could even talking I was cut off by a cry of-

"Hold on, my fair maiden!" "Huh?" And there is the aforementioned second person. You know, the way he was portrayed in awakening really doesn't do him justice. He's fairly tall, and manages to make work a clothing style that on anybody else would look simply ridiculous. And if fanon is correct, I bet he's not really as dumb as he was made to be either. Still a skirt chaser through and through though, and now I'm wondering if this is where Inigo picked up his habits, like, from his father. I always thought that Olivia was good with Lon'qu or Chrom though. (That Aether Inigo tho) Anyways, moving on-

"Life may be long, but attraction is fleeting! Would you leave me in your sweet dust-" alright this bullshit sounds even worse than when you read his dialogue in the game. I take back all the good that I said about him, he's dumb. Unless he's making himself this tragic on purpose it feels just dumb. Thankfully Sully cuts him off before I have to.

"Yeah, yeah, fancy pants whatever you say. Right now we have other things to deal with though. Such as a horde of these things and the _kid_ bleeding on the ground."

I swear a toon vein just popped on my forehead. This is sorta anime-ish, so it might have happened for real.

"Oh my! I'm sorry my friend about not noticing you earlier. No offense taken, I assume?" He asks, looking concerned.

"None, if you have something that I can heal myself with." He simply chuckles and produces out of somewhere a blue bottle with something that manages to smell of alcohol and medicine at the same time. Fucking disgusting, I gag just at the smell. "Ah, I know that the taste is not it's best attribute, but I assure you that this medicine is simply miraculous." Oh. This is an elixir. Right, he carried one when recruited. Well, can't say no to that.

I take a sip and…

"It's horrible. Simply horrible." But i can already feel my strength returning to me even as I say that. I manage to sit up as the arrow previously embedded in my arm just clatters on the ground, showing that it wasn't that deep in in the first place. "Thanks, uh…" Appearances.

"Right, let me grace you with my name, friend. It is Virion, the Archest of Archers!" "Call me Nick."

"Anyways, to your earlier question" I turn to Sully "Your captain was somewhere over there-" and I gesture towards where Robin ran off, shaking my hand in a "more or less" way. "Do you have a spare weapon with you?"

At this, she pulled out her Bronze Sword. "Ya know your way with a sword kid?"

"I simply shrugged in answer "It never hurts to try." I said giving her my best shit-eating grin. She barked out a laugh in response. "You've got spirit kid, let me tell you that." And she TOSSED me her sword. I had to fumble around before dropping it and giving her the stink eye, to which she simply chuckled in response. Jerk.

"Well, I don't know if you can follow me, but I've got some Risen to hunt!" Was the term already established? Huh. And then she sped off. Leaving me and Virion like sitting ducks.

"Uhm… Cover me I guess?" I turned to Virion. I think he would have shrugged if he wasn't too dignified for that. "Indeed."

"Alright." And off we were, towards an army of zombies!

It only took a few minutes to reach the battlefield, at a light jog. It was pretty easy to find exactly where they were after hearing Sully's shouts (it took me a while to stop chuckling after remembering her line, all while Virion stared at me like i had finally lost it from the blood loss.) And…

There were a lot of Risen. Like, a really fucking lot. Like, a hell of a lot more than in the game. At least it was compensated by their evident lack of skill, being slow as a snail and wow is that Chrom just weaving through their ranks oneshotting them? I'm impressed. Due to balance he wasn't nearly as strong in the game. Also, Falchion looks nothing like an actual falchion. I feel like I had to point that out. It's more of a longsword? Even though he wields it one handed… Nevertheless,

I gave a curt nod to Virion before launching myself in the fray as well, because they looked relatively weak and it looked rather fun to just exterminate zombies like there was no tomorrow. If I was gonna wake up anyways, I might as well have fun while I dream. The first one barring my path simply swung their sword at me in a way that was just PAINFUL to watch, even to someone who didn't know anything about swordsmanship. He literally put his arm behind me and tried to hit me in the head with his sword like it was a club. Needless to say, it didn't work since he simply aimed higher than my head. I wasn't gonna complain about it so, while he was still reeling from the strength he put behind that strike, I severed his arm before slashing him in the chest, sending him to the ground. A quick stab in the throat was all it took to finish him off.

I heard a groan behind me and saw a Risen with his axe raised and looking very pissed that his friend had died, and fuck I can't dodge it

I braced myself for a splitting headache (heh) and…

It never came. Instead, I felt the whistle of the wind as an arrow soared very close to my head (but not quite) and embedded itself in my not-so-friend's head, making him fall to the ground. Opening my eyes, I saw that Virion had his bow raised with a smile on his face. I flashed him a thumbs up before turning and FUCK ow ow-

The asshole bit me!

I turned and saw that the still downed Risen was munching on my leg like it was a particularly nice snack. Trying to pull my leg away (emphasis on trying) I flailed my leg around a bit till another arrow from my new best friend hit the guy. WHO WAS STILL ALIVE but at least he stopped biting me I stuck my sword in its head and it did the same as the previous Risen, which meant evaporating into the ground. Yay! No guts! That's a plus. Yknow, to not dying. Resuming a regular's person train of thought, I noticed looking concerned at my leg. What was wrong with my oh-

It looked like a chewed toy. Not joking, I got pretty freaked out when i saw it and immediately chugged the Elixir. I stared back at the leg and saw it heal itself in a way that left me pretty weirded out. I mean, I saw the leg go back to how it was before but i couldn't feel anything. It was numb. I was honestly freaked out by how powerful this thing was, but honestly chalked it up to Dream Physics™. Shrugging, I rushed off to meet another vapour zombie, who in this case was wielding a lance. A soldier then. Sadly, despite the zombies being rather incompetent, there's not really many ways that you can existentially fuck up thrusting with a lance, so I decided to try and grab the lance as I couldn't quite reach him without getting myself in danger.

But since I'm me, I misjudged the zombie's strength and when I managed to finally get a hold of his lance it was ripped brutally from my hands, leaving a cut running down my arm's length. I was still feeling rather numb, so I didn't scream, but it was not cool.

After finally managing to get a good hold of his lance, tossing it onto the ground. I then spun around and thrust my sword deep into his heart, and saw the light vanish from his eyes as the vapor zombie evaporated.

So did my sword. It evaporated.

What the fu-

I decided not to comment and grab the lance that was at my feet. As i grabbed onto it I was showered in a blinding light that forced me to cover my eyes. When it stopped, I was suddenly covered with a plate on my chest, boots and all kinds of armor that screamed "Hi, I'm Generic Mc Normalguy who got conscripted into the war." I took a look at myself, momentarily forgetting the Risen swarm and seeing that the others (I didn't even realize I had made my way near the group) were staring at me as well and I realized what happened.

Is this…

Is this a fucking joke?

I got promoted into a **soldier**. You know, the cannon fodder of Fire emblem, with sucky stats and that there are just so many? The enemy only class that sucked so much that they didn't deserve a promotion?

 _That_ soldier.

This… whatever it was, was mocking me. I literally took my own fucking life to escape the fact that I'm a nobody with no talent.

And then this. I won't lie. I was mad. I was really fucking mad.

I turned towards the nearest Risen (which was looking at me confusedly as well) and roared " **You'll pay for this!** " and shot myself at him before impaling him through the head with my Iron Lance. It went down without too much to say. But he wasn't enough. I was out for blood. I took the occasion given me by the momentary confusion (how dumb can zombies be to forget to attack just because of some light?) and made quick work of the next three Risen before i could calm myself.

And with that came an arrow in the shoulder. Curse you, Self-insert Author! I curse you!

I kneeled on the ground gripping my shoulder and hissing in pain, before Lissa snapped out of her stupor and made her way to me while saying "Are you alright?"

What's with Fire emblem Characters and their clear lack of eyes? "Just dandy." I muttered sarcastically. Ignoring my previous remark, she just said "I'm going to remove the arrow at 3. Are you ready?" "Yeah"

She gripped the arrow on my shoulder "3" I breathed in "2" and then she pulled without any sort of warning. "Sonova-" I gritted my teeth in an attempt to prevent badmouthing the princess. "You've done good." She says, offering a placating smile. Why is she treating me like a child? She's barely older than me! Or maybe it's just good bedside manners. I've no idea.

Letting that go I simply mumbled a thank you and looked up to see that while Lissa was patching me up the others had just finished the Risen.

Frederick, wary as expected, trotted over to me and asked with his menacing gaze (which didn't really phase me all that much) and said "And just who may you be?" while gripping his Silver lance in one hand. Right, I'm still a stranger to him.

"Nick." I simply replied. I was about to ask him his own name (even though I knew it already) when he already started asking another question. "And where do you come from, "Nick"?" Wow rude. Bet this guy's the life of the party in the Ylisse court.

I breathed in, trying (and failing) to calculate what would be the best answer to give before simply putting on my best "I'm an asshole" smile and simply replying

"Well, as of fifteen minutes ago, I'm a denizen of your world." I say. And just to add insult to injury I add "Please take care of me." In complete japanese style.

Going by the unbelieving looks, I only have one thing to say.

Nailed it.

 **So. I've taken the average Awakening growths (without Donnel's bullshit skill) and it turned out to be 416%. So my character is 1% below average in stats. SO my character is not a Gary Stu. Case closed. (⌐** **_** **) He's +Res-Lck. Imagine just how bad he would be if he had def bane. You could kill him with a paper cut.** **Luckily, Zombies Succ. Anyways, read and review, and I'm gonna post Nick's current level, class, skills and weapon rank. The growths are unvaried and I refuse to post them every time. If you need them, go look the first chapter. I'm actually using an RNG stat calculator that based on the growths tells you when they level up n shit. It's really cool.**

Nick

Lv 2 Exp 19

Class: Soldier

 **Hp:** 15/19

 **Str** : 7

 **Mag** :5

 **Skl** : 8

 **Spd** : 8

 **Lck** : 4

 **Def** : 6

 **Res:** 12

Skills:

- **Riposte** : If engaged in combat this unit takes/deals -1/+1 damage.

Items:

- **Iron Lance** Mt 6 35/40 Hit 85%

- **Elixir** 1/3

- **Illusion Charm:** Enemy hit% is lowered by 20. Staves may fail.

 **OMAKE: Chapter 2, Take 1**

It never came. Instead, I felt the whistle of the wind as an arrow soared very close to my head (but not quite) and embedded itself in my not-so-friend's head, making him fall to the ground. Opening my eyes, I saw that Virion had his bow raised with a smile on his face. I flashed him a thumbs up before turning and FUCK ow ow-

The asshole bit me!

An impish smile came over me as I knew just what I had to do.

I turned around to an horrified Virion with my head hung and moaned. "Brains…"

Virion gave me a flat look.

Chrom, in the distance, gave me a flat look.

The Risen on the ground gave me a flat look.

The Director (A blonde tall man, Emmeryn's cousin) inhaled sharply and said "Really Nicholas? We have to shoot a scene and you do this?"

I just scratched my head sheepishly and said, "Alright, Alright. I'll take my job more seriously."

The Director stared at me for one more second before sighing. "Alright boys, blah blah blah, take 2!"

It never came. Instead, I felt the whistle of the wind as an arrow soared very close to my head (but not quite) and embedded itself… actually no, it didn't. It soared past the Risen as well.

Me and the Risen turned around to see just who was hit and…

It was the cameraman. He was hit in the shoulder.

"Really Virion? The "Archest of Archers" and you miss a shot like that?" I gave him an unimpressed look.

He grumbled something under his breath that I couldn't quite catch. I simply turned towards the cameraman who was currently in the process of bawling his eyes out in lieu of being hit by an arrow. "Alright boys, 30 minutes of pause while I take this big baby to the hospital!"

 _30 minutes later…_

We all came back to the set and I noticed that the Risen were snickering about… something. I'm not sure.

"Blah blah blah, we're wasting time and we have to shoot the first part of the chapter too, take 3!"

I gave a curt nod to Virion before launching myself in the fray as well, because they looked relatively weak and it looked rather fun to just exterminate zombies like there was no tomorrow. The first one barring my path was not where he was supposed to be, barring my path.

Instead, they were all put in formation as Tharja of all people put Thriller as the background music instead of the usual player phase, and they began dancing. I was having a very hard time not laughing myself to death while The Director went and tried fruitlessly to stop the music. "G-good one Tharja! Hahahaha!" I shouted in between laughs offering a thumbs up.

She simply replied in that sultry voice of hers "Darling, they don't pay me nearly enough for me to not do this." I laughed even harder. The Director then shouted "Fuck this! That's it, you people are unsufferable! Now you-" pointing at me "-cut all the recording, and close up the studio! I'm going home and see you tomorrow when you've decided to act like the professionals you are!" and he left. Meanwhile, the song was just over and so I shouted "Alright boys and gals! Let's wrap this up!" like the director usually would. Tharja had come over to me while I was handling the camera and said "You're gonna save that, right?" and I replied, matter-of-factly "Of course. You know how much we're gonna make with these Bloopers? Now where is the save and quit button?" Tharja replied "Here" "Alright, then if I push this-"


	2. Chapter 2

**Read and review. When I finally DO start to get some reviews I'll start posting answers n stuff here!**

 **Hammerschlag: Thanks for the review! I appreciate the encouragement especially in my first fic where I'm still testing the waters. I actually have already read Cormag's work. It was nice, although most of the tips on how to write the self inserts are more Robin-substitution-based, but I'll certainly avoid the main clichés like shipping my character with Lucina (Which I haven't decided how much of a role will have between just canon and fucking mary sue) or being overpowered! Stay awesome OwO**

 **Chapter 3: To Ylisstol!**

As soon as those words left me, Frederick scoffed and said "That's a load of Pegasus dung. For hundreds of years the Outrealm Gate was guarded to make sure nothing came out of it, and now you say that you could pass through undetected?" I shrugged. I didn't exactly pass through there, so…

To be honest, I was really unimpressed with the guy in front of me. Did he really think that the only way to pass through the Outrealms was the gate? They literally had Marth as an example tonight for crying out loud! What did they want from me?

Thankfully, though, before I could start talking shit to Frederick the Wary, Chrom butted in with a "Peace Frederick. I know that our new friend-" I haven't even met the guy and he already calls me a friend? Wow. I never said to be your ally, buddy. Although I am. But still. "-'s story seems a bit surreal, but perhaps you should hear what he has to say for himself. We did see undeads coming to life and a mysterious warrior who calls himself like the Lodestar appear before us. And he did fight alongside us. So…" "Nick." "Nick, may you tell us what happened to you that led you here before us?" I gotta hand it to him, Chrom has a way with words that was rather impressive. Now I don't feel so bad about him calling me a friend. He makes you WANT to be his friend. But back to my situation.

I could've lied. I could've spun an intricate tale about how I was also one of the future children, out Lucina with all the cryptic bullshit she pulled for no reason and stuff. But if this was a comatose dream (which I was growing less and less sure of) would it really matter if I said the truth or I didn't? And even if it wasn't, countless self-inserts taught me that lying about who you are just to save face is _never_ a good idea. So instead, I just decided to tell them my story. I obviously wasn't gonna tell them how I knew about the future and stuff, that's a one way ticket to a madhouse, but I remained mostly truthful about who I was.

I think my decision also has something to do with how tired I am, or maybe Chrom's charisma, or the blood loss. I truly don't know. Maybe with a clearer mind I could've pulled some bullshit but I didn't really care for at the moment. And as I get to the salient part-

"Basically, I stabbed myself in the chest-" Here I showed the scar on my chest that despite the elixir's best efforts wasn't going away anytime soon "-since I didn't wanna live anymore and the last thing I heard before collapsing from blood loss was the portal generating. Then I found myself here."

Well, that was easier than expected. There isn't all that much to my story really. But I guess that someone talking so casually about suicide was not a normal thing to them, since they were all wearing horrified expressions. Even Robin that had made his way over to me (still sitting on the ground with Lissa at my side y'all) while Sully was trying (and failing) to chase away Virion and his advances a good 10 meters away from us (30 ft). Even Frederick was staring at me in shock, taken aback and grasping for words. Luckily (or unluckily) for him the princess knew exactly what to say, literally screaming in my ears "WHY WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!" and busting my eardrum. But even in spite of everything, the first reply that came to mind was "ow Princess, could you speak a bit louder? I don't think the people back home quite heard you, what with portal lag and all." That, however, seemed the wrong thing to say since she just screamed even louder in my ear "THIS IS NOT A JOKING MATTER!" Thankfully Chrom, my savior, intervened saying "Peace Lissa. However, I am curious as well as to what led you to wanting to end your life."

And then, my tongue just knew what to say in spite of the brain wanting to think something diplomatic. "Ah well, you see, I have a severe case of Mindyu." I said, grinning like a loon.

"Mindyu?" he asked, a confused frown on his face.

"Mindyur own damn business, sir." With that shit eating grin I wear when I know that I'm wrong. "Look, the point is, I did that, it failed like 95% of the things I do in life, not really sorry about it, can't do nothing about it, the end." Chrom looked rather taken aback by the bluntness of my words, so I just turned around and begun to go off... somewhere. I truly had no idea where, I just needed to go somewhere far away from him. I felt like I was scolded by a parent because of doing something stupid, and the guy was barely 3-4 years older than me!

But the guy seemed like he had infinite patience and didn't have enough of me somehow and so he said "Well… you said that most of the things you do fail, but, despite this being your first time, saw that you knew your way with a lance. And Naga's blessing just doesn't fall on the untalented, don't you think?" Is he referring to me getting promoted? "Yeah, so? Those zombies weren't all that impressive. I'm sure even a child could kill one of them, easily." I scowled. What was with this guy?

To my surprise, he simply shook his head before smiling at me. "Would you like to join our bunch then?" I knew it. He was offering me to join the Shepherds. This guy just recruits people left and right huh? I could have said no. I could have said I had better to do. I could have said that I didn't want a lifetime of war. I honestly don't know what took me over, but I said "Fine. But first things first, I'll need to check this "Outrealm gate" you're talking about to see whether or not I still have a chance to go home." He looked visibly relieved, and a glance at Robin and Lissa told me they were as well. What is their problem? I don't even know them, why do they even care about what I do.

Meanwhile Frederick was muttering prayers to Naga to come instil some common sense into the prince. Chrom grinned and said "Well, welcome to the Shepherds then!" I'm so gonna regret this. Also I just noticed that while we were speaking Lucina had sneaked away without having to speak to Chrom. She so owes me, the bastard.

We got to Ylisstol the next morning after a good 2 hours of travel. I know that only because Robin told me, since I apparently collapsed from a mix of adrenaline withdrawal, fatigue in general and blood loss, and was carried on Frederick's horse (something about him preferring to march alongside the prince).

Virion and Sully were also nowhere to be seen, for some reason.

Turns out the battle had drawn on till 4AM and we had to march right away to Ylisstol to make sure nothing had happened. I wish I could've just told them Ylisstol would be fine, that we could for fucks sake sleep, but no. I really had no proof besides my future knowledge, which I was not gonna reveal anytime soon.

Robin proved to be a surprisingly good chatting companion, talking about anything that came to mind like what I would do in a battle situation, if I thought his strategies were fine, asking about my world, stuff like that, while Frederick eyed us warily and Lissa and Chrom murmured by themselves while occasionally glancing over at us. I think they're still shook by what I said and treating me like a glass ball since, despite my best efforts, I was not to be let down from this horse here. Sucks to be them, marching like plebs.

I and Robin were marvelling about the city. Me because I simply have never seen Ylisstol, and Robin because he had never seen a city period.

I'm not counting Southtown because it was more of a lil village.

"So this is Ylisstol, capital of Ylisse... I've never seen so many people!" And despite knowing that this was the game script, I couldn't hold myself back replying "How can you know?" He simply gave me an unimpressed stare. I shrugged and made the horse move forward.

I wasn't that good at riding a horse, but this thing was surprisingly docile and as long as I didn't have to make it run I would probably be fine.

"It appears the capital was spared the chaos we encountered, thank the gods. I see no evidence of the great quake. It must've been limited to the forest." Frederick commented.

"Well, that's a relief!" Lissa replied, sagging in relief. We all looked like we could barely keep walking (besides Frederick) but they were somehow still managing to keep it together. As for me, I was still riding the last night's high and couldn't really bring myself to relax aside from that two hour passing out.

It was going with the script, though, so it was fine. As if to prove my point, an old guy shouted "Look! The exalt has come to see us!" I turned where he was pointing and… Emmeryn. She was breath-taking to look at, not even in (just) the sense of looking at a beautiful woman, it felt more like you were looking at a majestic waterfall or stuff like that. She looked and felt like the personification of peace. I realized I was gaping like a fish when Lissa snuck behind me and with a hand closed my mouth while giggling. "Yeah, that's the first thing everyone does when they see her."

"The exalt is your ruler, yes?" Poor, unassuming Robin asked. Then Chrom and Frederick launched through a long and winded explanation of how and why and who and what the exalt is which I didn't bother listening through since I already knew all this stuff while I resumed watching Emmeryn that had indeed noticed us and was staring in our general direction, waving and- was that a wink? I turned to Frederick whose face in the meantime was burning in the same shade as Cordelia's hair.

So him and Emmeryn- like- holy shit! I turned to the others, to see if any of them had caught on, but they were simply too preoccupied in talking between themselves. Meanwhile Frederick had noticed that I noticed (Noticeception!) and was making motions of cutting across his neck while glaring at me. I simply gave him a thumbs up.

Nobody else seemed to notice that little exchange aside from Emmeryn who giggled and simply turned back to the mass of people.

"She's also the best big sister anyone could ask for!" Ah, right, they're still talking.

"Yes, I imagine she… Wait, what? She's your… But wouldn't that make you and Chrom…" Poor Robin, he's being overwhelmed. Thank god I have the Outrealmer Pass™ which allows me to be as clueless as a goat despite knowing in fact everything! Only 49.99$! *wink*

"The prince and princess of the realm, yes. You remember milord's name and not this?" Frederick's drilling people is fun to look at when you're not the one on the receiving end.

"Y-you said you were "shepherds"!" No, Robin. They said they were "The" Shepherds. Read between the lines.

"And so we are… in a manner of speaking. We just have a LOT of sheep." Isn't that kind of insulting to your people? I mean, in a sense they're the Shepherds and protect the sheep, but calling them sheep implies that they follow blindly. That ain't nice Chrom. Not cool.

I lowered myself so that Lissa could hear me and asked, whispering "Does that make Frederick the guard dog?" she giggled. Thankfully he hadn't heard me.

"Chrom… I mean, Prince Chrom! Sire! Forgive my dreadful manners!" Alright, he's making a fool of himself. I have to step in.

"Robin, if he wanted you to treat him like a noble he would've said so in the beginning. Not all nobility is stuck up, just a majority. And you can probably get Lissa to forgive your "Dreadful manners" with some sweets or something." I sighed.

"Nick's right, Robin. Just Chrom is fine. I've never been much for formality." Chrom, the Hector of Awakening, ladies and gentlemen, now with a sword!

"The prince and the princess… That explains why Frederick tolerates all the teasing, eh?"

"Indeed. Oh, the sacrifices I make for the good of the realm…" Despite what he said, you could see that Frederick was smiling. Kinda. If you tilted your head in the right way.

"It looks like Emm is returning at the palace. Would you like to meet her?"

"Captain Chrom, I'll head over to the garrison with fancy pants here." Sully pointed behind herself. Wait, when did she arrive…? "Alright, Sully. See you there." This is my chance!

"Wait! Can I come as well? I'm not comfortable around ACTUAL nobles." At that, Virion, Chrom and Lissa all gave me dry looks. Seeing as I could dare to speak up, Virion gathered the courage and actually opted to stay behind and meet Emmeryn himself! At least it's a divergence from canon, however minor it may be. I'm still not sure how I feel about changing canon around.

"Sure. Suit yourself." And we started walking towards the garrison. I **really** don't want to meet Emmeryn. That would mean humanizing her and not simply treating her as a pretty face, and humanizing her would mean that I cannot let her die because she's a sweet person. And sadly, her death in the desert is a best case scenario, what with her swaying a lot of Plegians into revolution. How fucked up is that?

Anyways we were walking in the market area because it was the fastest way to the Shepherds' place when I suddenly heard something that made me freeze. It wasn't anything creepy or weird, just… unexpected. A merchant that honestly looked like Andre from Dark souls 1 (but he had a shirt on) Shouted "I sell the best Steel swords, the finest Steel lances and the strongest Steel Bows! Made from the finest steel ore!"

What?

"Steel ore?" Sully looked at me like she was schooling a child. "Well, yeah kid. How else would you produce _Steel_?" "Oh." I was too concentrated on what I had just heard to care about her calling me a kid and treating me like an idiot. So wait, if the material they call steel here is an ore, does that mean they haven't **truly** discovered steel? That might explain why it was less resistant and heavier than iron in the games, since silver was lighter yet stronger. Mmmh…

Well, that's something to work towards. I'll show this world what true steel is! Mwah hah hah!

And then I slammed against a wall. Specifically, the garrison's wall.

"Oi kid you alright? You got that same look that Miriel has when she's discovered something new."

"Who?"

"Ah, right. Miriel's our mage and resident geek."

"Huh. I'm fine, although thanks for asking."

"Well then go in and get yourself set up, get to know the rest and stuff. I'll go tend to the horses. This bad boy needs his brushing." And with that, she left me alone. Without so much as a clue as to what to do. So I entered and…

Chaos. Complete and utter chaos. I peeked in a room that I supposed would be the dining hall, only to find a mess, the hallways were dirty and the training rooms had weapons and dummies all over the floor. And I couldn't find the personal rooms like, at all.

Does nobody look after the place? I'm sure Frederick would have an aneurism if he so much as took a step inside here. I mean, the guy collects the ROCKS from the path to keep it tidy!

I tried to make my way through the place and… guess what? I got lost. I have no idea where's anything in this place! Why did Sully think leaving me was a good idea! I managed to lose myself in my cousin's house once for fuck's sake! Zoro ain't got shit on me!

So I walked. And walked. And… you guessed it. I walked!

Suddenly a very strong scent that reminded me of a farm assaulted my nostrils. I found them! The stables! Now Sully will save me!

Aaaand… these are not the horse stables. These are for pegasi. Why did Sumia even need to find one out in the wild if they had THIS many?

I began walking towards a Pegasus that was closest to me, eager to pet it. I know I probably shouldn't get this close to an animal that was unfamiliar with me unprompted, but I honestly didn't care right now. Like, dude, pegasi!

To my utter surprise and disbelief, it didn't immediately kick me away or try to bite me. Or, whatever pegasi do when panicked. Taking it as a sign to go, I got closer and begun to pet it, running my hand across it's mane. It was incredibly soft. And black. This wasn't a normal pegasus, but one of the dark flier ones. Are they more used to magic or something? Completely lost in the moment, I didn't even notice someone else had entered until I heard a soft gasp behind me, signalling someone's presence.

I turned and hello Sumia. She was wearing her armor, which I guess is something they grow used to in the Shepherds when they need to be ready at a moment's notice, but other than that she looked normal, a basket of apples laying now at her feet after her dropping it in surprise. Right, she doesn't know me.

"Oh. You're the new recruit Sully told me to look for after feeding the pegasi. She realized she had left you without a guide and told me to accompany you to your room.0 I-I didn't expect to see you here." She began to recollect her apples, which were all over the place.

"Ah, thanks. Given enough time I could probably find myself on the roof with no knowledge of how I got there." I joked, which earned a small giggle out of her.

"You know, pegasi don't usually allow men near them. I'm surprised Zephyr didn't start attacking you immediately. Not even women had managed to make him stay calm." She tried to come closer, but as soon as she took the first step forward he begun neighing and struggling against my pseudo hug, pushing me backwards into the ground and knocking the wind out of me. Damn if he's strong. Sumia took a step back in fear looking at it with a horrified expression, but the pegasus made no further action. She immediately came to pull me to my feet, and once I recovered, managed to stammer out a "S-sorry!"

"It's okay. Definitely didn't expect that though. How about you help me get to my room so I don't get lost?" I replied, worried that whatever progress I had made with the pegasus may have been just luck or a fluke. "Later, Zephyr" I waved behind my back. To my surprise, the pegasus snorted in response. I guess it wasn't just luck then. It likes me.

After needing to get accompanied to my room (an empty room that I simply claimed as mine) like a toddler and thanking Sumia, I reflected on what happened, assuming that it actually happened and it's not some weird fever dream. I tried to kill myself (or did I succeed?), got somehow transported to a fictional world, fought zombies, got my leg chewed like a toy, became the game's shittiest class, get recruited into Ylisstol's elite militia, didn't sleep or eat anything in hours, befriended a pegasus somehow and met Sumia.

Yup. I definitely needed some sleep.

With that thought immediately after dropping my armor and lance to the ground and getting on the bed, which was way more comfortable than a hay bed with a sheet dropped on top of it had any right to be, I dropped like a rock despite it being barely 3PM and having an empty stomach. I had much to think about and didn't want to do it now.

 **(WARNING: Rather detailed suicide scene that may not be suitable for people over 16 years old. Please skip completely to the line break if you're under that age or are particularly sensitive about the topic. You've been warned.)**

 _Today was not a good day._

 _The dye in my hair from the N cosplay I made just wouldn't come off, I woke up tired as hell because I couldn't bring myself to sleep more than two hours. I had to go to school today on the worst day of the week, which surprisingly wasn't Monday but instead Tuesday since there were my worst subjects. At the end of my last lesson I was called over by my Latin teacher, which just so happened to be my worst class, after the bell rang. She was a petite woman in her fifties or sixties, with brown hair, wrinkles and wearing glasses. She was strict, but not unkind. I enjoyed her lessons, but I just couldn't remember the stuff she talked about even after studying. I had quite a few other subjects where I didn't do so well, but I thought- Hey, I'll just study this summer to catch up to the others! Well, then my hopes were crushed._

 _She had called me over to tell me that regardless of how I did in the future exams between my often missing school for medical reasons and less-than-average grades I would not pass this year. Left speechless, I went on autopilot and simply thanked her for informing me and joked about she would have to bear me for one more year. I went home completely silent, since my mother apparently knew as well (the teacher had discussed this with my mother and she herself was the one who pushed for me staying behind one more year) as I was reminded just how much of a disappointment I was to my parents and my brother. They had already broke up because they just couldn't stand each other and would argue every day, so we were living at our grandma's house for the time being._

 _I had told my "friends" (not really, but they were better than nothing) and my brother about what happened and the only thing they said is that it was my own damn fault and I should simply have studied more. I hated when they were right. When I finally reached home the dam broke and I proceeded to bawl my eyes out on the bed. Not the manliest of behaviours, I know, but I honestly didn't care at this point. I was just so mad. Mad at myself for not being a better student, mad at them for not supporting me, mad at my mother for telling the professors to send me back a class._

 _Had I a clearer mind I would've done something different. Maybe I could've reason myself to use that to try even harder. But I had made a decision, my final decision._

 _ **The world would be better off without me.**_

 _It was pathetically simple to end my life, really. Anticlimatically so. I just went to the kitchen, grabbed the sharpest knife I could find (One of the not jagged ones, that shit hurt), grabbed a note where I wrote "I'm sorry." And then I went in the little plaza (more like a literal square big enough to hang out) that was right in front of my house (which was desert right now) and_

 _Stab._

 _Stab._

 _ **Stab.**_

 _All in the same spot, I did that till the pain stopped and then some, until my arms couldn't move anymore and then-_

 _A tornado?_

 _The last thing I could see was the wind starting to gather before I blacked out._

I gasped, sweat rolling down my face as I heard someone pounding on my door.

It was just a dream. Just a dream.

Only a dream. (But was it truly?)

"Oi ya sissy! It's time for dinner! Get the fuck out of the bed!" Sully's voice rang out from out of the door as I came to my senses and realized I was awake.

"Yeah, coming, one sec" I replied before slipping on my armor and getting out of bed. It felt pretty natural. Guess whoever was the smith that worked for Naga does things of the perfect size. Huh. Now that I notice, the room looks pretty empty like this. Not that I have any possessions or anything, since I was warped to this world just yesterday, but still. Perhaps I can buy something to make this thing a little homier, assuming I have no way of returning to my original world?

"Are you coming or do I have to kick your ass all the way to the dining room!?"

"Calm the fuck down woman, I'm coming!" Ah, Sully. Such a delicate flower. I'm sure that if I said that aloud she would've actually kicked me so hard I wouldn't be able to sit for months.

I got out of the room, which now had a little name tag on the door that says…

Uh. I can't actually read what it says. I'm just gonna assume that it says "Nick" or "Nicholas" since it's, yknow, my room and there was no tag before. But I can't read it. The symbols on the door make no sense to me.

Sully must have noticed my staring, since she casually said "What, squirt (already a step up from kid! Yay!) can't read? That's your name. Don't worry, Vaike can't read either so you're not alone." She snickered.

"Hey, I can read! Just, uh, not this language." Now that I think about it, I hadn't really paid attention, but neither of us are speaking English. Or Italian. Or any language that I know of. And yet, I'm speaking this fluently without a care in the world.

"Whatever you say kid. But if you don't hurry up we're gonna miss dinner, and Stahl's got the hat tonight."

So we went to dinner. I made sure to memorize this time what was at least the path from the dining halls to my room so I wouldn't get lost again (knowing full well that I would regardless) and we got into the dining hall.

When Chrom noticed our presence he waved us over with a smile on his face. "Ah, thanks Sully for bringing him here. I'll handle the rest." Then he spoke up so that he would be heard by everybody and said "This is the other new Shepherd we told you about earlier, Nick. Go on, present yourself." And the table quieted. Everyone was staring at me and suddenly I felt like I would like to be anywhere but here. "H-hi. I'm Nick." I managed to squeak out, before growing redder than a tomato. Thankfully the only notable reactions were Sully busting a gut at the left side of the table, asshole, and Lissa quietly giggling next to Chrom before everyone resumed whatever they were doing.

I simply went and took my seat next to Robin, who smiled kindly at me and Vaike who enthusiastically clapped my back with his hand and said "Afraid of the crowd, eh? Don't worry, Teach's gonna teach ya a thing or two about-" "Hey you dumbass! Stahl said that he bets 200 gold on me at arm wrestling! Come to get me paid!" Sully shouted over the table.

I looked around myself. I noticed that Lissa and Maribelle were talking about something, Vaike and Sully were arm wrestling (and it looked like the former was winning fairly easily), Stahl and Miriel were missing from the table although I probably knew where they were, Ricken was explaining excitedly to Sumia about some new spell he created, and Chrom and Virion were discussing about noble stuff that I honestly couldn't care less about while Frederick stood over and eyed me and Robin mistrustingly. "How do you do that." I muttered to Robin. "Do what?" "Be so good at people." I replied while sulkily poking at my food. Sausages. Yum.

He simply laughed and said that it would come naturally to me eventually, and that as a tactician it was also his job to be on good terms with everyone. Asshole Gary Stu. I returned to poking at my food and decided to take a bite and "Heaven." It was so good I forgot just about everything else. After not eating for nearly 24 hours this heavenly food came to my plate as my salvation. I began shovelling food in my mouth as fast as I could, and, in mere seconds, I was done. "More. I need more." Sully looked over from her arm wrestling match with Vaike and said "Ah, Stahl's still in the kitchen. Maybe he's got leftovers you can have." before slamming Vaike's arm into the table and sending him sprawling to the ground. I flashed her a thumbs up and went to the kitchen where Stahl was cooking.

I went in the kitchen before seeing a man with hair greener than mine.

 **How dare he.**

Remembering though that he was the cook I simply asked him for leftovers after presenting myself (which he gave me) before going himself out of the kitchen to eat, but as I was about to return to the dining hall myself I ran into a huge suit of armor that was standing there, making me drop my plate.

Perhaps a bit too dramatically I got to my knees and said " **NOOOO…** " but it was food! Made by Stahl! When I looked up there as a 6-foot-tall Kellam staring at me that I had no idea how I missed. "Hey, are you okay?"

I sniffed. "Yeah. Sorry for bumping into you. By the way, I'm Nick." And I moved to make my way out of the kitchen when he suddenly grabbed my shoulder and said "I'm Kellam. We're on plate cleaning duty tonight." with an infuriatingly calm smile, like he didn't feel guilty at all about killing my food.

"Alright." And so we began cleaning plates until my hands looked like prunes and I couldn't feel them anymore, but at least it was over. "G'night Kellam."

But before I retire to to my room for the night he clapped me on the shoulder and said "I heard about what happened to you last night. If you need help for anything, just let me know." And I turned shocked, but when I looked, there was no one there. "How does he do that?" I asked myself, not expecting an answer. "Heh, sure. I could use a shoulder to cry on."

 **There we go. This chapter is kind of a filler, but we need those. The stats are unchanged and there was nothing gained in this chapter besides hammering out relationships and my character backstory. Next time, beginning of Awakening chapter 3! Also, you people haven't left any review. But I come to you today with a request. Could you offer me a name for the fanfiction since the current one is Edgy as Fuck**

 **Also, what Einherjar would you want to appear in this fanfiction? (pls no RD, Genealogy or Thracia characters since I haven't played em at all. Only one character will appear. Also do NOT vote Marth because he's going to appear in the fic regardless (unless you're for some reason REALLY against the idea and have a convincing argument)**

 **And yeah that's gonna be it for today's chapter, Ninni51 out!**

Omake: Chrom said the Shepherds needed to loosen up

I gasped, sweat rolling down my face as I heard someone pounding on my door.

It was just a dream. Just a dream.

Only a dream.

"Get the fuck outta that room before i bust open this door! Dinner's ready and if you make me miss it I'll fuck you up!" Sully roared while pounding on my door.

Getting ready to bolt out of my room, the first thing I saw was Sully sitting down in the hallway with a bottle in hand and looking passed out. The hell?

I lowered myself to check on her, putting two fingers to her neck and let out a sigh of relief when I realized that she was just passed out due to the booze.

Since she had mentioned that dinner was ready, I tried to make my way to the dining hall, managing to get myself lost only three times before getting it right. I stared at the scene unfolding before me, left speechless by the sheer amount of... It's best if I just describe it bit by bit.

Chrom lying on the ground, passed out and completely naked aside from his underwear and with a penis drawn with a marker (where'd they get it) on his face.

Robin and Virion playing chess while making moves that made no sense and insulting each other.

Lissa and Maribelle making out quite passionately next to a plant in the corner.

Stahl, pretending to be said plant in the corner giggling like a school girl.

Sully, having found her way here before me, was having a game with Vaike about who could slap the other with the least force. After a while he grabbed her hand and slapped himself with it and shouted "HA! I win!" before getting decked across the face by her strong enough to put him to sleep and just said: "Yeah. You win."

Miriel who was chasing Kellam around trying to unveil the secret to his invisibility while carrying massive scissors.

Ricken and Sumia who had somehow found wigs (and a way to get Ricken drunk despite being underage) and were enacting some sort of play where Ricken said that he couldn't kill her because he was her father and then they both began crying.

Emmeryn (when did she get here?) lying in another corner muttering to herself plans on how to destroy Plegia before laughing like an 80s villain.

Frederick, shaking his head while muttering prayers to Naga to give him the strength to handle his prince's stupidity.

Naga herself, shaking her head and muttering prayers to herself and wondering why hadn't she made Marth immortal as well so she wouldn't have had to deal with this.

And an Anna, who was currently photographing everything using a sMarthphone. (HA!)

"What the fuck just happened here?" I asked nobody in particular.

Anna replied, quite amused by the whole situation: "The prince thought it a good idea to bring the royal alcohol dispense here to celebrate the joining of two new shepherds. And I'm gathering blackmail material."

"Ah." The only thing that seemed intelligent to say after this was "Can I get a copy?" "5000 gold, honey" holy shit that's costy.

"Go pickpocket the prince then, his wallet's certainly bigger than mine." And she did. After getting my copy of the pictures I said

"We're never gonna let them live this down, are we?"

"Of course not, who do you think I am? You know how much money can I get off blackmailing a prince?"


	3. Chapter 3

**R &R. Enjoy. Or don't.**

 **LinksTwin 2237; Thanks for the nice review! :D I'm glad you like my fic. Since you were the only one who asked for an Einherjar, and I quite liked the idea of having our meme boy with us, here you go!**

 **Anon: Here you go! I'm sorry for taking a bit longer than usual, but I wanted to make a higher quality chapter than the rest. I probably won't update once a day like the first chapters since that'd just be me giving you guys garbage and I don't want that.**

 **Chapter 5: I don't follow canon**

You know, the game had you assume that they went to do this political thingy with Ferox right away, but it actually took two weeks before Emmeryn even told Chrom that they would have to leave for the Regna Ferox for a political mission. Huh. I had gotten into a sort of routine with the shepherds (which included Sully drilling me every morning into the fucking ground, saying that I needed to up my game if I wanted to be a true Shepherd) so I was sad to see them go, even if it was just for a while.

Yup. You heard me. I wasn't going as well.

Chrom said I was too young to go on their mission and needed more training, and for once I wasn't against that idea. I mean, the fact that he treated me like a kid still pissed me off, but I wasn't looking forward to killing real people and I still had the Outrealm gate to go to. I was mostly chilling at the garrison while getting to know people better. Some people I actually liked to talk to and was even friends with. I have actually made a journal about my relationship with people! I copied that one from Robin. I also wrote down all the details I had on the future so I wouldn't forget since I already don't remember pretty much the entirety of the Valm Arc aside from the fact that Walhart's the bad guy but not really. Anyways! The relationships:

Chrom 4.5/10

My relationship with Chrom is… shaky at best. Neither of us seem to know what to say in the other's presence since he knows my backstory so we just tend to ignore each other and try to go on with our lives. It could be worse, to be honest.

Support: N/A

Robin 8/10

Robin is actually a really cool person aside from being a bit meek! He told me that we all have our troubled pasts and we should not judge people from it. He even told me he had started to remember a little, and between those things, being plegian! I don't know what this means for canon, but I'm happy that he's starting to remember. And being the friend of everybody Mary Sue he somehow managed to drag me into this as well. Overall, I like him.

Support: C

Lissa 3/10

Lissa just downright avoids me. I think what I said might have shocked her, but I seriously have no idea how to proceed on this front.

Support: N/A

Frederick: ?/10

I… actually never spoke to the guy after the few words we exchanged the first night. I guess he's distrustful of me as per usual…?

Support: N/A

Sully: 7.5/10

I honestly can't decide if I hate her or love her (not in the romantic way, mind you). She's one of my teachers when it comes to spear, we make friendly banter, she's a cool person but she's way too aggressive sometimes. And tends to get drunk. That's something the game skimmed over. Overall, I can easily say she's a friend, just not one of the closest ones.

Support: N/A

Virion ?/10

I can never get a read of this guy. One moment he's acting smart and the other he just proceeds to dump all those smarts into the trash bin, especially when he's skirt chasing. I honestly have no idea what goes through this guy's mind, although he can't be that bad… I think.

Support: N/A

Miriel: 9/10

She's amazing. After three days she pulled me aside and… slapped me on the upside of the I asked her what that was for she simply handed me a mirror and told me to look in my eyes. I noticed that they were glowing green instead of the usual dull brown and I asked her what it meant. To her apparently magic is like a muscle. This is something that happens when you have an affinity for magic, but it never had a chance to manifest before, such as being healed (because your own magic helps a lot in that regard), protecting the body from other magic that assaults your body (something I've never encountered) or just simply casting magic. She was shocked to find out that the only magic I'd been exposed to until now was being healed once by Lissa's staff, and told me that if I ever wanted to be adept in magic I would have to get rid of my "Magical Atrophy", and she gave me a book that she had made just for me (That I was only to use only under her supervision) which basically made a constant stream of wind from the palms of my hands.

Using magic actually hurt and strained me a lot but she said that while I wouldn't be using my magic offensively anytime soon, I would soon stop aching from using magic. To fill the time that I was using magic she started teaching me magical theory, which almost immediately changed to making me learn the language after she realized I didn't understand Akaneian even though the magic books chants were surprisingly written in English. When I told her that I could understand what the books said she basically went starry eyed and dragged me off to the library to read for her. Most of the books were about mundane arguments, (but I actually found a secret book that I stole), but she was happy nonetheless.

I was pretty happy myself about having such a good teacher.

Support: B

Vaike 6.5/10

Vaike's been trying to be a "big brother" and a "role model" for me these weeks. He's a decent guy, but I seriously don't wanna find myself becoming a Vaike v2 so I've been mostly avoiding him. Sorry bud.

Support: N/A

Stahl 7/10

He does his thing and I do mine. It happened once or twice that we hung out but that's really all I have to say about the green cavalier. He's a nice guy.

Support N/A

Sumia 7.5/10

I actually met Sumia more times when going to the stables to see Zephyr. She's like the sweetest girl in the world, and I actually enjoy her company a lot. I've been helping her with the pegasi once or twice and she tried (and failed) to help me with Zephyr. I wish I had spent more time with her, but alas.

Support: N/A

Ricken ?/10

Who? I honestly couldn't find the guy anywhere in the garrison. Was he doing something else in this time period? I honestly have no idea.

Kellam 8/10

The guy's a really good friend. Has sound advice whenever I don't know what to do, has been training with me and teaching me how to wield a lance properly (my form was apparently horrible even if I thought it was at least ok) and is always willing to listen whenever I feel down or angry about something. He's a nice guy.

Support: C

Zephyr ?/10

He's a fucking lunatic. Sometimes it seems he likes me, then he hates me, then he likes me again. He hasn't let me ride him even once though, the asshole.

* * *

And yeah. That's about it. I'm having a chill breakfast (instead of sully breaking me fast, heh) while the shepherds are departing. Most of them say goodbye on the way out and I replied in kind but that's about it. Feels kinda anticlimactic considering this is an expedition that will serve to get us new political allies. Now that I think about it, I won't get to meet Lucina till WAY later on in the story, which is a shame. Now that I think about it… is there a future me? Did he sacrifice himself as well for the children?

But right as I'm musing the complications and divergences from canon that would come with if I played any sort of role in the future, Stahl comes out running "Ahh I'm late! Oh no! The muffins and cakes!" He had a toon tear rolling out of his eyes as he managed to grab only a pair of muffins before running away. Miriel made me promise to do the exact same exercise I've been doing for the past week without trying to break my limit while Kellam put a hand on my shoulder and wished me good luck for my own mission.

Sighing, I finished my breakfast before sitting up to go to the stables (the horse ones this time). I had business to do as well. Chrom (in his immense generosity) said I could pick a horse to go to the Outrealm gate faster to discover if I could go back to my world, so I simply took a horse at random and mounted it the way sully had showed me. It would take three days' worth of travel to get there if I didn't press the pace. I packed rations, water, the remaining little bit of elixir and obviously my lance (Also I had a javelin now, yay!)

And I went. On my way there, literally nothing of interest happened aside from me passing by Southtown to sell the secret book I stole to an Anna (skill is one of the most useless stats in fire emblem anyways) and so I went to the port to get a passage from another Anna (I'm fairly sure they reproduce the same way cells do). I was about to go find a place to chill when suddenly I slammed into a woman, who dropped a tome and a few cards came out of it while I dropped my own tome that Miriel lent me for practice. She looked a LOT like Aversa. Actually, I'm fairly sure that this is the Aversa that stole Old Hubba's cards. But I'd be suicidal to try and take her on so…

"My apologies." She said after gathering her cards and as I was about to reply she was already gone. _Weird_ I thought, but I simply picked up my book and noticed the card that was hiding right under it.

The card was face down, and scribbled in pen was written _Our Boy._ I smiled. I guess my luck was turning up today. Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket? It's not any day you get an Einherjar at random, and a prince at that. Despite the fact that I wanted to summon him **badly** right now, I doubt that he would take kindly to just being stared at. Not that I had any idea of how to summon him. And we were likely gonna fight soon anyways.

* * *

The following day we (me, really, I hadn't seen any passengers on that boat) reached the island where the Outrealm Gate was on. And… it really was the only thing on the island. Stretching for about 20 kilometers, the island had no structure beside the massive gate that contained a portal that just couldn't decide if it was 2d or 3d, switching every few seconds or so.

"Boo."

I jumped away from whatever was behind me with a shriek and as I turned I saw that a redhead was currently laughing and holding her stomach.

"I-heh- I'm sorry, but you were so engrossed looking at the gate that I couldn't resist." She snickered. "Anyways welcome to the Outrealm gate, yadda yadda, what is your business here?"

And the question that would decide my fate from now on.

"Does the gate lead to Earth?" I asked. Internally, I was sweating cold. Despite how much I liked it here I can't deny that I wouldn't enjoy a lifetime of war against a possibly world-ending god. But would I truly be happy on the other side living a life I didn't enjoy in a world I gave up on?

Thankfully, the Anna took the choice of answering that question from me.

"Sadly, no. Earth is a particularly difficult dimension to pinpoint, and the gates appear all over the place for just a few seconds. The longer one lasted two weeks and it began pouring travellers in the sea like there was no tomorrow in a few dozen timelines."

Wait, so Asleep and all the fanfictions that came from there are real? Damn. I never got to finish reading it. (Hint hint please continue writing it whoever's the author hint hint)

A part of me was relieved though at the fact that I didn't have a choice. It made things a hell of a lot easier. The only thing I had left to do now were…

"Could you please load Champions of Yore 1? And I'd need to see whichever other map I can do." Anna rolled her eyes in response.

"Yeah, go break the fourth wall, why don't you? It's not like you have to repair it, it's always up to us Annas…" She grumbled.

"Oh, please, like you don't do that yourself enough." And then she was suddenly in my face looking at me with the scariest expression I had ever seen.

"We tap at it. TAP AT IT. You fucking barrelled into it with a sledgehammer!" She shouted at me.

"Meep." I muttered, suddenly feeling a whole lot more intimidated. Never be said that Annas aren't scary.

"Whatever, for free you can do "Champions of Yore 1" where you can bring maximum 7 units, "Trial of Spirit" where you're on your own, or… maybe…" She suddenly was behind me whispering in my ear "would you like to try "Apotheosis"? I'm itching to pick up my lance again you know…" And I was suddenly left shuddering.

"Yeah, no thanks. What is "Trial of Spirit"?" I was curious. I'm fairly sure that this was never a thing in Awakening.

"Ah, your other timeline self told me that I could let you access to that when, and I quote "He will be able to hear the voice of the wind". Paid a pretty penny too." She shrugged. "You don't look like you'd be strong enough to do it anyways." And what kind of cryptic bullshit is that? But something else came to mind.

"My other timeline self? So this means this is the timeline where Lucina came back?" I asked. Maybe there was some hope then!

"Yup. You won't have to watch your friends and family get slaughtered. You've already done that once." Wow is this Anna bitter. Why do I get all the grumps?

Wait. _**Family?**_

"Wait, what?! Does that mean I get married?!" I asked, panicked.

"Ah, but that would be telling." She said with a sly smile.

 _Oh no._

I really can't imagine myself with a wife. And a child? Please. I'd be a terrible father. I don't even know HOW should I look after a baby.

And then I sneezed.

* * *

 _Somewhere in the north_

"ATCHOO!" A young girl sneezed. She had bright green hair, an overall medium build hidden by the large cloak she wore. She was right out of a cottage in the woods, the whole area coated in snow for kilometres. "Are you alright, buttercup? It mustn't do you go good to stay out here in the cold. How about a cup of tea inside?"

"Hm? Oh. Thanks Inigo. Don't worry, I was just thinking about my father. I'd love a cup of tea with you." She smiled back at him.

"Then let us get inside! We're sure to catch a cold if we stay out here in the snow. Hell knows Uncle Nick would come back from the grave just to tell us "I told you so."

"Yeah. Let's go and get warm." She cast one last look at the sky before hurrying inside after Inigo.

* * *

"Well, anyways, could you load Champions of Yore 1? I want to build a small party before heading to the first paralogue."

She grumbled something unintelligible under her breath, but took out a tome I didn't recognize and fired it at the portal. Then she was suddenly behind me and pushed me inside before shouting "Have fun! Try not to die out there!"

From my suddenly being thrown into the portal I didn't have time to think about a position to land in and so I faceplanted. It seemed like it was gonna become a recurring theme.

Getting up, I saw that I was near a house, but no Old Hubba or really any of the girls in sight. The only thing of interest was the village near me, so I went take a look inside. The streets were empty.

"Hello! Anyone there? A battle is likely to take place soon, so you may want to close the gates!" A villager popped out of an alley and came towards me.

"Be welcome, warrior. We know ye're no brigand. You clearly didn't come here to pick a fight with us. Accept this as a wee token of our gratitude. ...Why're we grateful? How should I know? I just hand out the wee tokens!"

And then he basically kicked me out giving me a Killer Lance.

"Wait! What am I supposed to do with… this…?" But he had already closed the gate.

And then from behind me a shrill cry rang out.

"Huff, huff, huff- Warriors? Warriors from afar?! Oh, thank the- wait." He suddenly got up looking a whole lot better. "Where are the Shepherds, they were supposed to be here by now. Hey young boy! Where are the Shepherds?" He asked me. I just shrugged and said "I came here alone. Well not exactly alone, but for now it's only me. Aren't you getting chased by a bunch of princesses right now?"

"Right! We haven't much time! Now please, O mighty-" but I cut him off.

"Yeah yeah, I know who you are, who they are. Please Old Hubba, cut to the chase." He gave me a dirty look. What can I say? I've heard this stuff a million times now!

"Fine. Way to ruin an old man's fun. Hear me, O ruler of ancient Altea and true lord of the Seven Realms... I summon thee, Marth, the Hero-King! Come forth and grant us your protection!" And then a young man with hair bluer than Chrom's appeared out of thin air. He was wielding Falchion

"As you wish. I will answer your call."

Then everything changed when the Renais Nation attacked.

"Brigands! I am Eirika of Renais, sister to Prince Ephraim."

Then everything followed script, old Hubba being a perv, Eirika getting offended, yadda yadda. Then he summoned Ike "I'm being called for a battle? I see." He looked towards me. "Can I assume we're gonna be fighting together? I would like to know who I am up against beforehand." I simply pointed with my thumb towards where the girls were. "Them." He hummed and replied "I see. If my style gets in your way, don't be afraid to say so." He offered a hand. I suddenly imagined him wearing sunglasses and chuckled, shaking his hand. "Sure."

Then came Alm. He was a lot quieter than the other, just staring towards the enemy encampment. "Let's just get this over with." He said. At first I was puzzled, but as I followed his line of sight I noticed that he was staring right at Celica, who was staring right back with cold, hard eyes.

Then I remembered having an Einherjar myself. "Oh! By the way, I have an Einherjar too. How do I summon him?"

Old Hubba looked towards me and said "Ah, just ask him for his aid. He'll come out." He waved a dismissive hand. I shrugged. Seemed easy enough. I took out the card and lifted it.

"Roy's our boy!" I shouted. Then a feeling as if a piece of my very soul was getting torn apart and I suddenly felt nauseous. I dropped to the ground and let out all of my lunch onto the ground.

"Need a hand?" Someone from above me asked. I looked up and a redhead, no older than me was staring at me with a kind smile.

"Yeah. Let's get this party started."

 **A/N So much in this chapter! \^-^/ We took a peak at a future character, we're about to get into a fight, a timeskip, a new member of the party, this chapter feels so much better than the others (I took my sweet time with it) And I finally got reviews! :DD Here are the new stats, I'm also including Roy's because yes. I'm honestly quite baffled that Roy's stats are so low at the beginning, considering I even had to tone down his level by 2 but using the stat calculator (at least the loadout I'm currently using) you'll see that he actually surpasses Nick in the long run so don't worry. I had to buff Roy's blade because in Awakening it's a (un)glorified Steel Sword and Fire Emblem Steel succ. No omake this time because I can't think of anything funny happening in an alternative dimension. Also, I still have issues with the name so please give me something decent, or tell me if you like the current name. Ninni51 out.** *drops mic*

Nick

Lv 6 Exp 39

Class: Soldier

Hp: 22/22

Str: 10

Mag:7

Skl: 11

Spd: 12

Lck: 5

Def: 7

Res: 15

Skills:

-Riposte: If engaged in combat this unit takes/deals -1/+1 damage.

Items:

-Iron Lance Mt 6 22/40 Hit 85%

-Killer Lance Mt 10 30/30 Hit 85% Crit 30%

-Elixir 1/3

-Illusion Charm

Roy

Lv 9 Exp 0

Hp: 27/27 85%

Str: 11 55%

Mag:1 35%

Skl: 13 70%

Spd: 12 55%

Lck: 6 55%

Def: 8(+2) 40%

Res: 9 25%

Skills:

-Dual Strike+

-Aegis

Inventory:

Roy's Blade: Mt 10 40/40 Hit 90% Bonus +2 to Defense

Vulnerary 3/3


	4. Chapter 4

**I've realized something.**

 **I kinda fucked with the supports in Ch. 5**

 **I posted the supports with the characters without thinking much about it, going "Lol whatever" and just deciding a support rank.**

 **I will take down almost every support rank aside from Miriel's (dropping it to B) Kellam's (C) Robin's (C) and Sully's (C) since they're the only ones who Nick had actual meaningful conversations.**

 **Read and review, cause that's my writing fuel.**

 **Chapter 6: Princesses are a handful, this is a handful of princesses**

I was pulled to my feet by Roy, who, I noticed, was a tiny bit taller than me. Suddenly a wave of light shone over me and I felt much better.

"Ah, yes, of course. I forgot to mention that summoning an Einherjar can be quite the experience. But don't worry, boy: it only gets easier from here." Old Hubba said after healing me.

"Mhm. Thanks. Are you going to fight with us or you prefer staying back?" I asked, because he hadn't mentioned about his old bones and stuff.

"I'll leave most of the fighting to you youngsters. This old man is no longer used to running around the battlefield. But I'll help from afar with this." And he lifted what I assume was a Physics staff. Huh. Neat.

Hearing a battle cry and suddenly becoming aware of my surroundings once again, I lifted my shield, which was a good thing, because a Rapier decided to slam into it, making a horrible scratching sound of metal against metal. Eirika was quick to go on the offensive again, managing to nip me twice in the arm before Roy could step in and forced her to dodge.

After that we found ourselves on the offensive side not giving the princess any room to breathe before I managed to get a hit in on her, stabbing her in the side with my lance, which produced a pained cry of her. And while I was suddenly a whole less comfortable with the prospect of fighting, this seemed to only boast Roy further, who with a mighty thrust and a cry of " **There's my opening!"** ended the princess' life, thankfully, still not in guts because they were Einherjar.

They kind of just zoom out of existence.

I stared at the spot where the princess stood before, unsure of what to do before Roy clapped my shoulder and said "I know it feels wrong. I felt the same in the beginning. However, you must always think the worst of your enemy. They will use your indecisiveness against you, and won't hesitate to strike you down. That's what my teacher Cecilia used to say at least. And we Einherjar don't really die, we just… go back to sleep. She'll be fine when she's called once again."

I turned in shock towards Roy. So he knows…?

"Yeah, I know about us being Einherjar. You made quite sure that the few that were with you knew the reality of the situation." We turned back to the battle to see that Ike had made short work of Deirdre and Old Hubba had torn Elincia to shreds with his Arcwind tome.

A fireball was then hurled towards us and I stepped in front of Roy to block it, abusing my god tier resistance and feeling very little aside from my hair being singed a bit.

"What strange power… Where did you say you hailed from?" Micaiah asked, confused. Roy took the chance to go to the offensive, but Micaiah stepped aside from his thrust and hurled another fireball that hit him point blank. "Gah!" He gasped. I rushed towards her, stabbing her in the side and taking another fireball to the chest that… sorta hurt. It was like getting a fist in the stomach by a toddler to be honest. Another thrust and she was down as well.

"Roy are you alright?" I asked, concerned for my new pal. I know that I could just summon him again if he fell in battle, but I still didn't want him dying. He drank some of the Vulnerary and replied "Yeah, don't worry about me."

Alright, if he says so. Me, Roy and Alm (who in the meantime had catched up) moved on towards the southernmost part of the island we were in, finding a fort as the only way to pass through. The gate was open and there was nobody guarding it.

Fishy.

I told Roy and Alm to wait since it was obviously a trap and they nodded back, and we stood there, waiting for whoever was in to make a move but… nothing. In the time we waited Ike and even Old Hubba had caught up to us, so we all went in there with our guards raised, but despite everything it really seemed like the place was empty, so we simply moved on. After passing through the fort there were in sight two things:

The village that was supposed to give you a rescue staff, although we were unable to see much because of the walls that divided it from the rest of the world, and the fortress where Celica stood at the door looking bored while filing her nails. I turned towards Old Hubba, who simply shrugged in response and said "What? Do you really expect everything to go according to the script when you came alone in here?"

He DID have a point. We decided that rushing Celica was an obviously bad idea because there was probably an ambush set up and instead decided to go to the village (which, now that I could take a look at it's inside, was an exact copy paste of the other.) There wasn't a single soul in the village aside from a girl sweeping the ground. Like, she was sweeping the dirt on the ground (there wasn't a round) with a broom. I noticed that there was a staff on her back. Is this Nanna then? I haven't played whatever game she comes from.

Ike eventually just walked up to her and asked "What are you doing?" and she cheerfully replied "Distracting you, of course!" tossing the broom at him, although he just grabbed it in one hand.

I felt the rush of air of an arrow passing behind me and looked to my left where Lyn was standing with a bow in hand. I nodded to Roy and we used the same strategy that we had used against Eirika, fiercely stabbing with our swords in an attempt to take her down, but she seemed to adjust well. She was holding the both of us off, firing an arrow that grazed Roy's sword hand and when I overshot my lunge she slashed me across the chest with her Mani Katti. "Shit!"

I fell to the ground, holding the gash she had made and looking surprised at how she cut through my armor like butter. She looked smug as she pointed her blade at me and said "The spirits inside this blade chose me. It will cut mercilessly through anything. Now surrender, and I will spare your life. Even though you're a bandit you must have some sense left into you." I tried taking the last swig out of my elixir but she promptly destroyed the bottle I was holding. Rude, that must have cost Virion a lot. Then I suddenly saw blue lurking a little ways behind Lyn and chuckled.

I dropped my lance and said "Alright, alright. I admit defeat. May I ask something though Milady?" It was all about distracting her at this moment. Sacae's people have good ears, but if I'm talking to her…

She hmmphed but said "Speak, bandit. Do not try to deceive me with your words though. I am not as foolish as that blue haired princess." I raised my hands in mock surrender and simply asked "The question is just one, really. What led you to believe that we were only two?" She turned around and gasped, only to be impaled by Marth's blade "N-no! H-how-" and then she blurred out of existence as well.

"My apologies, friends. I wanted to rush towards this village so I could warn them of the fighting, but it seems that while I was speaking to the villagers our enemies had already set up their ambush, so I preferred to stay hidden." He said. "It's no problem, thanks for coming in when you did." Roy replied "It kind of is, I'm dying here" I mumbled under my breath, but apparently it was still loud enough for him to hear me. He gasped and said "R-Right! Marth, fast, go call Old Hubba, we can't have him die!"

Marth nodded and rushed off towards the old man while Roy stood guard to me. I now had time to notice that Ike had apparently fallen to Julia (after cutting Nanna down) while trying to protect the old man, and they were currently locked in a magic fight, although the sage was clearly winning and Julia was barely holding up.

And then I saw it. Caeda wielding an armorslayer (FEH, izzat you?) and diving towards up at high speed. More specifically, towards _me._ "Roy! Look up!" but he wasn't fast enough to help. I clumsily held my lance up with both hands as a sort of shield to block the sword from cutting me in two.

The world stops for a moment. Caeda is frozen, Roy is frozen, everyone is frozen except for me. A voice rings out in my head and says:

"Congratulations! You've just won the "Jef and Paul award for excellence in shopping centers."

Wha-

"Actually, the iron lance snaps in two."

The world resumes moving and I'm presented with my lance that's effectively snapped in two, Caeda going back on the offensive and Roy standing in front of me as a sort of human shield.

I 'm mad for the interruption but at least it's not officially that guy. You know the one, you go into the bar and he's like "This suit is uh, officially a Giorgio Armani ech, my dad knows him."

(A/N did I just make a hole in the spacetime of my fic just to make a JonTron reference? Yes I did. I'm not ashamed.)

Then the battle between Roy and Caeda began. She was fast, and now that she switched over the to the wing spear had the weapon superiority, but not fast enough to hit him, but she had the air superiority, at least until Marth arrives. Then they run towards their spouse, stab each other in the heart and disappeared together.

In some sick, distorted way it was romantic I suppose.

Then Lilina came out from across a corner and upon seeing Roy shouted " **ROY**! HOW COULD YOU JOIN THESE BANDITS' ASSAULT?!" She was crying. I don't think she saw me and Old Hubba. Good for us since he had just began healing me and it takes time. She was far too focused on her… uhm… is he her boyfriend, groom or something else? I don't know.

"Lilina, I-" But she cut him off raising her tome.

"NO! NO MORE LIES, NO MORE TRICKERY!" She glowed in golden light before shouting: " **ELFIRE!"**

He didn't even try to resist. He simply stood there, taking it, even when it must have hurt so much.

 _She burned him alive._

Old hubba was slow at healing, so I wasn't exactly at my best, but I got up all the same feeling nothing but **anger.** She killed my friend while he stood there taking it.

Gripping my Killer Lance I dashed towards her as she cried about the deed she committed. Bitch.

" **You'll pay for that!"** I shouted as my lance passed through her skull. I know that it may be overreacting and Roy will be fine later on, but the fact that she was a person he trusted and he wouldn't fight back even while burning alive was just… too much. I guess he couldn't stick by his own suggestion to think the worst of your enemy. Heh.

I turned to Old Hubba and said "Let's just get this over with." He nodded sagely. Then he seemed to remember something and said "Oh! Right. The loot from this village, of course." And he handed me a Rescue staff. I simply put it on strap on my back where usually my iron lance would be. And we headed towards the castle. I felt emotionally drained, but we still had Celica to deal with, so I grit my teeth and moved on.

When we arrived, Celica and Alm were already fighting, him unable to get closer because of Celica's tome. She suddenly shouted " **Seraphim!** " taking out another tome and a ball of light crashed into Alm, ending his life as well. I dashed forward, with a barrier cast on me by the old man as all the Arcwind shots and Seraphim were knocking harmlessly into me, not even managing to slow me down. I pointed my lance at Celica's neck and said "Yield."

She looked dumbfounded that I could resist her magic so easily, but got over it quickly and with sadness in her eyes said "I… yield." And she spread out her arms while closing her eyes.

A quick thrust in her chest ended her life just like the rest of them.

*CHAPTER COMPLETE!*

Turns: 13

MVPs: Nick

Why does the universe feel the need to mock me by reminding me that I'm the only one standing? This is why we should leave strategy to Robin. He clearly knows what he's doing, instead of me.

I was engulfed by a blue light as Old Hubba waved at me, and suddenly I was no longer there.

I was taken to a blue void, with nothing around except from Marth who was standing directly in front of me.

"Well met, milord. I decided to accompany you in your travels, if that is okay? The first time we were good comrades, although luck was not on our side."

Roy also talked about the other timeline. How do they remember it?

"I'm sure you feel drained from the vicious battle we fought in, but rest assured that Roy is fine, although saddened by Lilina's unwilling betrayal. In fact, they're discussing about it right now." I smiled at that. I know that those two are very close, and the betrayal from a person close to you hurts just so much. I should know.

I focused back on Marth, who seemed to be still talking "-and I suggest giving him some time to rest, since dying is a very draining experience. I would appreciate some as well."

"When our quest is finally over, I would love to show you Altea. I'm sure my comrades would appreciate it as well. And…" He scratched the back of his head sheepishly, suddenly losing that feeling of nobility that he gave. "Caeda would like to make amends for your lance. It was never her intention to break it in the first place. So…" He took a lance from… somewhere. Why does everybody have Hammerspace besides me?! I gotta talk to Miriel about that.

"Here you go." And he gave said lance to me. And then I gasped. This was the Wing Spear, the best weapon in Fire emblem shadow dragon. "I'm sure that for now, you'll make better use of it than she could." And suddenly, the wound in his heart flashed in my eyes, if only for a brief moment.

"I look forward to being alongside you in battle." He said, and faded away leaving me in the blue void.

"Yeah… Me too."

 **A/N A slightly more serious chapter. I don't have much to say aside from begging you to post reviews to tell me what do you think of the story and posting the final stats of Nick's party, this time with Marth added to it. I'm using for him the Lodestar class from Fates because anything else wouldn't do him justice. I also forgot to add Roy's class last chapter, but he's obviously a mercenary.**

Nick

Lv 9 Exp 51

Class: Soldier

Hp: 17/25 65%

Str: 12 50%

Mag:9 55%

Skl: 12 60%

Spd: 14 60%

Lck: 6 45%

Def: 8 30%

Res: 16 65%

Skills:

-Riposte

Items:

-Killer Lance Mt 10 28/30 Hit 85% Crit 30%

-Wing Spear Mt 8 28/28 Hit 90% Crit 10% Effective against mounted and armored units.

-Rescue

-Illusion Charm

Supports:

Miriel: B

Kellam: C

Roy: C

Roy

Lv 11 Exp 14

Class: Mercenary

Hp: 0/29 85%

Str: 13 55%

Mag:1 35%

Skl: 14 70%

Spd: 14 55%

Lck: 7 55%

Def: 8(+2) 40%

Res: 9 25%

Skills:

-Dual Strike+

-Aegis

-Patience

Inventory:

Roy's Blade: Mt 10 34/40 Hit 90% Bonus +2 to Defense

Vulnerary 3/3

Supports:

Nick: C

Lilina: S

Marth

Lv 15

Hp: 31 75%

Str: 14 55%

Mag: 2 30%

Skl: 22 60%

Spd: 21 60%

Lck: 20 70%

Def: 14 35%

Res: 10 20%

Skills:

-Gentle Blade

-Charm

Inventory:

-Phantom Falchion: Mt 8 Hit 85% Effective againt dragons. Holds only a fraction of its original power.

 **I'm mad cause I had to change Marth's growth rates and stats around a bit because his growth rates from Awakening were God-tier with aptitude and trash-tier without it. His fates growth rates also were not okay because they barely reached 390 WITH his insane Luck stat at 85%. And I refuse to give aptitude to anyone who isn't a farm boy named Donnel. Also I wanted to make him stronger than he was in awakening but his Fates base stats were too strong. I had to nerf him, goddamnit, NERF him to the ground to make him plausible and not make him able to simply stomp the entire bandit camp by himself. I had to reduce his base speed by fucking 4. Also I couldn't find anything funny enough to write an Omake about aside from the Jontron Reference that took only a few lines and wasn't worth writing separatedly.**

 **Anyways now that my Ranth (heh) is over, I'll see you later, Ninni51 out!** *drops mic*


	5. Chapter 5

**Read and review, and please tell me where I can improve because this is literally the first story ever that I wrote on a whim. Please Reader-senpai notice me.**

 **Artyom-Dreizehn: I'm glad! I also like Sl fics for the same reason, because they make a story I already love with the biggest "What if" (which is the basis of any fanfic) to the table. I always found weird that Chrom, Robin, Frederick (to an extent) and most importantly Lissa would just be "ok lol" to go for a political mission after spending the night fighting and marching forcedly to Ylisstol to make sure everything was okay. Stay awesome and goodbye! :D**

 **.77770: I'm glad that you like my fic! Even though it may not look like I like writing angst and dark a lot, with jokes in between. I'm sure you'll find this fic (later on though, for now I'm keeping it light) to your enjoyment. :D**

 **d8rkforcen1gh7: Kris… Hmm… to be honest, I know literally NOTHING about the character, aside from the fact that they're considered one of the worst inserts in the story of fire emblem and literally nobody liked him. I'll study it up a bit, and if I like it I'll consider adding him... he/she may fit in a later arc. No clue right now.**

 **Kidemonas: Hello again! Thanks for the compliment, I hoped that the battle scene was decent since I don't know what is considered good by fanfiction standards. As for chapter 9, I can agree that it's a bitch but if you managed to get Panne to dragon rider and level up Ricken or Miriel (altho she trash) a bit they're pretty good against the wyvern rider reinforcements and the rest should be pretty easy, assuming that Tharja doesn't go suicide onto Libra. MU is overpowered af tho he's a god. I'm using the** **level up simulator made in Excel that I found on reddit, the thread is "Guys I made a fire emblem level up simulator?" that given growths and base stats will do the math for you, although it also counts level 1 which is bad. I managed to stick a level 1 levelup in my fic since the promotion to soldier tho.**

 **As a side note, I forgot to mention in the Stats that both Marth and Roy have no money, while Nick has 2140G since the travel cost him 150G per boat, plus 60G for another shirt. Also Marth S support with Shiida/Caeda. I'll only be posting supports with characters that actually appeared in this fic and that would somehow influence combat, like Roy's completely locking up at the idea of facing Lilina.**

Chapter 7: Early

The boat rocked gently as we (again, I, since the only other person on the boat was an Anna who was controlling said boat using magic and wasn't interested in conversation) made our way to the island Donnel lived in (according to the map, I never knew he lived on an island to be honest). It was kinda chilly since the only clothing I had on was a shirt (fuck you Lyn) and the hoodie was back at the barracks, but I would manage. I decided to follow Marth's suggestion and simply give the both of them some time to rest in their card form, so I was left with some time to myself to think about what lies in my future and my plans. I've finally got a confirmation that this is indeed the second timeline and I didn't just appear here. I have already appeared once and it went… well, aside from Grima's resurrection, at least according to Marth. And yet the Anna said that I saw my friends and family (still trying to wrap my head around that) die before me. Did she say so just to mess with me? It honestly feels a bit… Sadistic? Heavy? A dick move? I honestly can't say. But now that I think of it…

This whole thought process- does it even matter?

Aside from the confirmation that we are indeed in the second timeline, nothing of the rest is really important right now. We won't meet any of the future children in a while, at least not before the timeskip I think, and I'm certainly gonna do my best to ensure this world's (and my) wellbeing. About that…

How exactly am I going to do that? It's not like I can Mary-Sue-No-Jutsu my way to greatness. I'm just gonna be another soldier in this army. Sure, I've been picking things up extremely fast (abnormally so) but I can barely bring myself to end a person's life. It just doesn't feel right. And even then, the fight with Einherjars was supposed to be an easy fight, numerical disadvantage aside. And yet I lost everyone else and barely survived. If not for Old Hubba's help I would've been killed by Lyn.

I simply need to become better, stronger, faster and… Magic-er and I need it now. Or not really now, but by the time the Walhart arc kicks in I need to be strong enough at least to face an army of Now-Me-s. But how? Right now I think I don't even meet the requirements to promote, and to be honest I have no idea if it would even work like according to the games. So what? Stat boosters? I've no idea how to find those besides getting stupidly rich, and again they're an unknown. Skills? I have seen Chrom perform Luna-

* * *

 _A week ago_

I went to the training grounds where I had to meet with Sully in the morning at 7:00. I actually got up at 6 and just couldn't go back to sleep, so I decided to get there a bit earlier, to do some stretches and such. When I got there I found Chrom and Frederick sparring, so I simply sat down on one of the benches around the field and watched. Apparently Frederick was explaining the theory behind the Luna part of Aether, a skill that, apparently "Every Falchion wielding individual in the royal family must learn." After he was done explaining stuff that mostly got over my head since I had no clue about swordplay, they got into positions, Chrom with only Falchion and Frederick simply holding up a shield, not even on his horse. I didn't feel a surge of power coming from him like I expected (Miriel had taught me how to see the magical prowess of the enemy, and how it is affected when casting) but rather, his power suddenly becoming a lot sharper and more focused. He suddenly dashed forward with a move that reminded me of Ike's side B and suddenly, he cut through Frederick's shield like it was butter. I was left slack jawed but sadly, that was when Sully had to come and ruin my fun, saying that if I could be up early I could do extra training. Fucking sadist, she is.

* * *

 _Right now_

-so I know that at least those exist, but I have no idea how to get my hands on them and AGAIN, I meet no requirements. I think. I'm fairly sure that soldiers have no skills so I don't think I got them. Although it would be nice.

Sadly, since life just doesn't wish to give me a break, Anna shouted "Nick! There's a girl overboard!" What?

I looked towards the sea from the railing and saw that there was, indeed, someone overboard. They were on a small rowboat, passed out and being basically cooked alive by the sun, a little over 50 meters away from us. Ow.

"Let's bring her in!" I shouted in response, and Anna wasted no time in bringing our small ship (which was still an impressive 12 feet tall) next to the other. Our unexpected guest seemed to have a lot of empty bottles of rum and little else, other than a satchel and an healing staff. Which was an impressive display of stupidity considering we were open at sea and the closest land (the one where she WASN'T going towards) was still a day's worth of travel, assuming you had a sail and were a wind user. What was she thinking?

The day, however, clearly wasn't done messing with us, cause as soon as I managed to bring the passed out lady in with her stuff (I decided that the empty rum bottles weren't worth the trouble) Anna shouted again.

"Pirates!" Oh for the love of-

"How many!" I shouted. Maybe there was a chance we could take them on, we were four, five if our passed out friend woke up and could bring some heals to the table. Of course a tier two unit would pretty much destroy both me and Roy in combat, ESPECIALLY me since I currently had no armor, and give a really bad time to Marth. I had no idea about Anna's skill level, but it clearly doesn't reach Godhood as the Anna at the portal but maybe-

"Too many!" _Fuck_. Alright then. Combat isn't an option. That means we could try to barter our way through, although I'm reluctant, hope that these are not the bad kind of pirates (there WERE good pirates here, right? Right?!) or we could be sold as slaves. None of the alternatives sound hot. Either way, I drew out both Roy's and Marth's cards, who, picking up on my thoughts, immediately shifted into a battle stance beside me. We definitely weren't gonna win, but perhaps we could scare them away with the whole, you know, having literal ghosts.

The both of them turned around, giving me annoyed looks at the fact I called them ghosts. Well, that's what you are and you know it!

Roy rolled his eyes before turning around, however when he saw the enemy ship he simply lowered his guard and smiled, saying "Don't worry, we shouldn't have any problems with this one." I kept staring at the ship, not noticing anything that said "No problem here." It was clearly about to board us, they were pirates, so how…?

Both me and Marth kept our guards up, my hand never leaving the Killer Lance even though I would probably be made into mincemeat by one good hit. Anna was also tense, one hand on her Steel Bow and the other going for her quiver. However, Roy seemed so damn sure that he even sheathed his sword.

At last, we were boarded by the other ship. It was MASSIVE. 6-7 times our ship, and clearly full of people.

"Alright, lads, let's make this fast. We dun' want trouble, we be jus' lookin' fer a wee lass wit' short pink hair, a white dress 'n a staff. Fuckin' thief, she be." A huge man, with an even huger axe resting on his shoulder stepped into our ship. He had the same blue glow around him as all the other Einherjar, which left me confused as to how he was by himself instead of following a master. I looked behind me, where the girl we just dragged in was still passed out. She DID match the description. She was a petite woman, with short pink hair currently mopping the ground. She was still clutching her staff while mumbling nonsensically. She wore what basically amounted to a glorified white nightgown, with a huge skirt covering her to the ankles and long and big sleeves that covered her arms.

Roy snapped me out of my analysis dashing towards the man with a huge grin on his face. "Uncle Fargus! Long time no see!" he called.

Fargus caught him into a noogie and begun laughing "Roy! Ye son o' a dragon, finally got yerself a crew 'n began sailin'? I knew that th' castle life wasn't fer you!" while Roy laughed and tried to break free. Of course, that wasn't happening anytime soon since if this Fargus was anything like his EHM self, he'd give even Walhart a run for his money.

"Wait… you two know each other?" I asked. I was quite surprised since I don't think anyone ever mentioned Fargus in fire emblem 6. Thankfully Fargus decided to answer my question, even though he never released my friend in the meantime.

"Aye lad. This brat jus' wouldna stop botherin' me everytime we stopped by Badon t' get some grub 'n spirits." Spirits? Does he mean- Oh. Nevermind then. Although I'm surprised about Roy knowing Fargus. Guess Eliwood DID remember about him after his whole adventure thingy.

"Anyways… is this the girl?" I stepped behind said girl who was still passed out, somehow. I'm sure she wasn't dead because she was breathing, but we would have to take her to a medic if she doesn't-

"She's been faking being passed out for ten minutes." Anna said. Oh.

"No I haven't." The girl on the ground mumbled. Fargus stepped towards here and lifted her by the arm with just a hand. "Oi! Lass! Ye owe me money for all that rum ya drank!" The girl just looked dazedly in front of herself, red in the face from clearly being drunk before remembering that, yes, he was indeed talking to her and screeching loud enough to make Fargus (and the rest of us) cover his ears before running behind me shouting "Belle! Save me!" and burying herself in my back. I noticed that everyone was staring at me and tried to shake off the girl, but she had an iron grip.

"Who is Belle?" I asked Fargus, hoping for some sort of explaination. Unfortunately, she got up and walked in front of me before saying, matter-of-factly "It's you, silly! See! You have all the characteristics of a Belle: Bright green hair-"She grabbed a fistful of my hair that made me let out a tiny "Ow" "Brown eyes" and here she nearly poked my eyes out "soft cheeks" She grabbed my cheeks and began pulling on them "and no chest!" Before she poked me in the chest. "Wait… you have LITERALLY no chest. WAIT A SECOND! Did Tharja shrink you again! I swear that woman… Well that's not the point!" She returned to hiding behind my back. "Save me! He's a meanie!" At this point I didn't even know what she was going on about.

"Someone please save me I don't know her please" I muttered. Roy and Anna were currently holding onto each other to avoid falling from laughter, while Marth was politely chuckling behind his hand at my expenses, while Fargus was staring at me, waiting for some sort of answer.

"Just how much did she drink?" I asked, desperately. It had somehow fallen onto me to make up for whatever disaster this girl caused.

"She managed to drink under the table two of my best sailors before running off stealing a boat." Oh god. I turned disbelievingly towards her, to which she just shrugged and got back to faking being passed out.

"And how much did that all cost?" I muttered. Fargus raised an eyebrow and said "Didn't ya say that ye didn't know her, lad?" "I did. But someone has to pay now, don't they?" I asked, resigned.

Fargus stared at me for one second before barking out in laughter "Bwah hah hah! I like ya, lad! You've got heart to spare, even if ya look like a breeze could knock ya over. And since yer Roy's buddy too, let's make two-thousand coins and we're even."

B-but… "But that's all my money…" I said, barely above a whisper. Roy simply pats my shoulder before I hand out nearly all the money that I made from selling that book. I'm sure there's tears in my eyes.

"Welp, glad we got that settled! Full sail boys! Gwah hah hah!" And Fargus jumps on his ship, leaving whoever this is on ours.

"But wait! What do we do with her! I shouted, rushing to the railing to try and make them stop. "Now she's your problem lad! Ya paid for her! Gwah hah hah!" I stared at the retreating ship, dumbfounded. "But, but…!" I had no words. So I basically got all my money taken to save a drunkard who can't tell I'm a man and now I gotta babysit her too? I turned towards her to begin ranting at her, only to find out that she had somehow went to sleep onto the deck.

"Roy, please take care of her while she's sleeping. I gotta go shout my lungs off." I said. This has been a terrible day.

 **So… yeah. That happened. A new unit, I send my character's money down the drain, we see Fargus so it's actually a good day for everyone and overall, I'm happy with this chapter. Let me know if y'all would enjoy longer chapters or the 2.5-3k chapters are ok. Here are ?'s stats, just so you know.**

?

Lv. 10 Exp 00

Class: Cleric

Hp: 26/26 70%

Str: 6 40%

Mag: 10 50%

Skl: 10 50%

Spd: 11 45%

Lck: 16 80%

Def: 7 30%

Res: 14 50%

Skills:

-Miracle

-Touchheal

Inventory:

-Mend

2500G (But don't tell that to Nick!)

 **Welp. I got nothing more to say. Take care fellas, Ninni51, out!** *drops mic*


	6. Chapter 6

**Read and review, because reviews are the life force that keep me going. Without 'em, I would be a sickly old man who cannot write fanfiction because of his arthritis, but here I am, a young boi, so keep 'em coming. Serious talk though, do you believe my character to be a Gary Stu? I'm trying very hard not to make him, but my Sue senses aren't as sharp as a veteran reader's could be.**

 **Chapter 8: She stole my POV!**

" _Get into the portal, everyone!" Uncle Nick shouted. He was mowing through hordes of Risen with ease, Roy at his side. He impaled one, two, three before shouting "REXCALIBUR!" And blasting away some wyverns that were trying to flank us. "But-" Owain started, clearly wanting to remain to aide him. We all did. He was the only one of the original Shepherds that remained. I still remember clearly their deaths. Lissa being shot by a poisoned arrow that quickly ended her life and Frederick, who launched himself into the fray to let us survive. Sully and Panne fighting off hundreds of risen before they were mobbed and killed as well. Ricken and Maribelle, who stood with us to the very end, both dying of magical exhaustion. Queen Sumia, who was killed shortly after birthing Cynthia by an assassin. Chrom, who was killed by that_ _ **bastard**_ _Robin, who has no qualms about using even dad, his apprentice as a puppet. After having to kill him uncle and Inigo cried for days on end, even while destroying hordes of Risen with double the rage. Uncle Nick though always said to not blame him for it. "He made his choice" he said. "We're simply gonna fix it." He said, with that stupid grin that he always wore._

 _Owain shouted "We're gonna see each other again in an epic quest to save the past! My sword hand is ready!" as he went in._

 _Inigo said to Belle "Come on darling, let's restore the future. For all the girls in the world!" even though he knew as well as me what was going on. To which the poor, unassuming girl simply giggled and said "See you on the other side dad!" and they got into the portal as well._

 _Brady, Kjelle, Cynthia, Yarne, Severa, Noire, Nah, Gerome, Lucina._

 _Everyone got into the portal._

" _No! Let me fight with you!" I shouted. Was he seriously abandoning us, after everything we've been through?! Everyone else did... I hoped he would be different._

" _You're gonna die if you stay, Rose!" He shouted, his voice enhanced by the wind magic._

" _No! I'm not going to abandon you! I'll fight!" I shouted back. He wasn't gonna win against me in stubbornness. Mother made sure of that._

" _Grrr, fine! Here!" He took out a wind tome. So he was really letting me…?_

 _But then the wind was knocked out of me as I realized what he was doing. "Wind!" He had shouted, and a wind sphere was tossed against me. I was knocked into the portal made by Naga, not believing what was going on!_

 _No… Uncle Nick!_

 _Uncle Nick…_

 _Uncle… Ni…_

* * *

"Uncle Nick!" I screamed, waking up. Sweat was rolling down my face as I realized that I was no longer there. But where was I? The last thing I remember was getting drunk, and… Belle? Pirates? I have no idea. It was honestly very confused. I think Belle bailed me out of some silly situation like usual? But… how? She wasn't with me… I think. But suddenly…

"Have I been that bad of an uncle that you shout my name in your nightmares?" Somebody next to me mused sarcastically. I couldn't help it, I screamed.

Mom always said that I had a talent for screaming. Apparently, I managed to make two of the castle maids cry and another fire herself. Said notion was reinforced when the kid in front of me dropped his lance to cover his ears.

"Man, didn't take you for a screamer even when sober." They said. I turned towards them in fear, but what I saw weirded me out even more.

"Belle?" I asked, hopeful. That looked like her… yet it did not. I couldn't see a thing without glasses. I think I lost them after the incident with the pirates. But it couldn't NOT be her with that mop of green hair, right?

Apparently, it could. The person next to me scoffed and said, "Again with this calling me Belle. You do realize I'm a guy, right?" he said. I quickly reddened at hearing that, because HOW could I make such a mistake? His voice isn't even THAT feminine!

"Huh. You got red. Do you have a fever?" He asked. Wait a second…

Clueless, small stature, short green hair like Belle's, is a man…

"Uncle Nick?" I asked, hopeful. Maybe he did manage to make it after all!

"I may be a Nick, but I sure as heck ain't uncle to nobody. Except to my half cousin half niece Claire. You see, it's a bit of a weird thing, because my dad's sister had a daughter that had a daughter, so she's technically my niece, but she's older than me. But I digress, I'm 99% sure I'm not your uncle." He said, rambling.

"I, ah, no... nevermind." I sighed, drained of any excitement (and wanting to punch his teeth in) I had. This was my uncle, yes, but it was his past version. I had hoped that he had made it with us, but sadly…

Suddenly, I thought of something else. _Why_ was I with him? Lucina had said that we were supposed to work in the shadows! But wait, maybe I can turn this to my favour. He doesn't know about me or the others, so maybe-

"Ah, by the way, you kinda blew your cover about coming from the future in your sleep by shouting Lucina, Brady and Inigo's names." He said, with an impossible amount of nonchalance. Wait, what? How does he- who told him-

As if reading my mind, the next thing he said was: "I already knew, even though Marth and Roy confirmed the point in the timeline that we are in. Still, I thought the other me would tell you that he knew about imminent world doom. Although with the ripples I caused I'm surprised that you had to go back in time." with that annoying nonchalance. But still, WHAT?! How did he- how could he-

"If you knew what we were going to go through, why would you abandon us? How could you?!" I screamed.

"Wait, what?" He asked, disbelief clear in his voice. "How did I abandon you?" He asked. He looked genuinely curious about it. "Didn't you say you already knew?" I scoffed. Coming to me telling me he already knows and then looking like that when I tell him. "You threw me into the portal and didn't follow us." I added.

This time I managed to garner a reaction different than simple nonchalance. He looked like a mix of anger and disbelief, as if he couldn't believe he'd done that. Then his face immediately shifted to anger and I recognized the usual green glow of his eyes before stomping over to the door and shouting "ANNA! GIMME A BOAT! I'M GOING BACK TO THE PORTAL!" before slamming the door behind him. Then, suddenly, the door opened again and he said, with much less steam "Ah, uhm, I didn't quite catch your name." He said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Was this really my uncle? He used to be a lot more serious. Or rather, he's gonna become. Maybe. Ugh, time travel is so confusing. "I'm Rose." I said, simply. He flashed a thumbs up behind his back before closing the door again.

Suddenly a splitting headache hit me reminding me that I was still hungover. And tired. And really shouldn't be up.

That was my last coherent thought before I hit the pillow, passing out once again.

* * *

When I woke up again I felt much better and refreshed. Deciding to not be a pile of human garbage all day I stepped out of the cabin I was in to finally start to make heads or tails of my situation. As I stepped out I was greeted by the sight of a moderately sized ship that was being pushed by an Anna who was using a wind tome as a propeller. As I closed the door of the cabin behind me she turned to greet me.

"Ah, hello there! Had your beauty sleep?" she asked, momentarily stopping the wind and putting a finger on her chin. Annas did that a lot for some reason.

"I- yeah. Do you know where Un- Nick went?" I asked. Suddenly a vein popped on her forehead as she closed her eyes in frustration before saying "That brat! He took a boat and sped off with it without paying!" Oh. OH. He actually decided not to pay an Anna. I decide to have mercy on his poor soul as he clearly had no idea what he's just done. "I'll pay for it. How much is it?" Her anger immediately evaporated as she turned fully towards me with a saccharine smile. "It's 200G. I guess this is a way to repay him for the 2000G that you made him pay earlier." Wait, what? "What? He paid for me?" Uhm… I got onto the ship… played dead… and… Ah. "Oh, right."

I handed the money to Anna, and she took out a different tome, put her hand in the air and an image of another Anna appeared. "Anna?" "Tell me, Anna." "You no longer have to kill him. The other kid paid for his boat." "Aww…" she whined. "Yeah, yeah, I know, but murdering people is bad for business." She replied, to which the other simply pouted. "Yeah, whatever, love you." "Love you too." And with that the other Anna disappeared, leaving me gobsmacked and staring at the Anna who simply resumed her usage of the wind tome to bring us… Uh…

"By the way, where are we going?"

* * *

I stood by the railing, waiting for something to happen. Everything was so confusing right now. Being found by pirates, Uncle Nick knowing things he had no way of knowing and yet being surprised when I told him what happened, then suddenly rushing off to do something. Apparently, before I met him he was on his way to an island that had just a village. I don't know why he would be interested in that, but now Anna told me that he wanted me to wait there for him to pick me up while he's doing his business, and he left the Marth card if anything happens. Doesn't he know that I'm older than him?! I should be the one ordering him around, not the other way!

So that's why I'm here, waiting for him to come back. Sulking, on a bench, sitting down. Alone. And cold. And sad. How dare he leave me here to do nothing while he goes off and run his errands! The nerve!

"Heya lass, ya look like a spider bit ya on the butt. Care to share?" A villager sat down next to me. "Ugh, it's just my uncle. He left me here while he went to run his errands or whatever." The villager stared at me for a second before barking out in laughter, and saying "Well then, 'tat seems like a huge problem. Maybe yer' interested in a round o' booze to lift some spirits? 's on me. Don't tell my wife though. She'd misinterpret everything. I'm just doin' this cause ya looked sad, not to hit on ya. Clear?" Staying at the village suddenly sounds suddenly a lot more interesting. "Sure." I grinned "Bet you I can drink you under the table old man!" I shouted, and rushed off towards the tavern. The guy took a moment to realize what I just said before grinning himself and shouting "Yer' on!".

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

 **Ugh.**

 **I utterly and truly despise this chapter. It was boring, shorter than average (but not shorter than the first one), I couldn't make my mind about things, couldn't bring myself to write it, gave me problems with posting it and it sucked (at least to me). I promise next chapter won't be so bad, and we'll return to Nick POV. I have nothing else much to say aside from read and review, tell me if you'd prefer longer chapters, and whether or not Nick's a Gary Stu in your opinion.**

 **The stats are unchanged aside from the fact that now we know Rose's name and now there are two separate parties: Nick/Roy and Rose/Marth.**

 **Also, sometime soon-ish I'll be posting another completely original idea aside from the Awakening self insert (that I invented, was my idea), a collection of Prologues from various series that I don't have the time/skill/will to make, but if you'd like me to I could think about it. It's gonna be called something like "False Beginnings" or something like that.**

 **Anyways, Ninni51 out, *drops mic, but this time in bold***


	7. Chapter 7

**Read and review, because otherwise, I will personally send my alpacas to hunt you down, and they know just how to deal with people like you. Tell me if the self insert seems like a Mary Sue, critiques are always welcome, and tell me how I could improve my writing. Onto the chapter now.**

 **Jax Smallbine and Kidemonas: I see. I will try to make longer chapters. Thanks for the reviews!**

 **Chapter 9: Answers**

I was furious.

Scratch that, I was more than furious.

HE of all people should know what it feels like to have nobody as a pillar to sustain you. Look how well it ended for us.

So why? Why would he leave people that clearly care for him? Rose believes he died together with the others, but…

That can't be right. He's at the Outrealm Gate, with that trial thing he put up. I don't care if I can't hear "the voice of the wind" or whatever, he damn better have some answers for me.

Good thing I managed to get off that boat early, so I managed to make it here in a decent time.

"Anna!" I call out to the island that lies in front of me. The gate is there, but I need her to open it for me. Because it's a gate.

Standing with her back against a tree was the God!Anna, filing her nails with a bored look. "Oh, it's you again." She huffed. "Came to ruin my day again?" Wow fuck you too then. I rolled my eyes at her and said curtly "Yeah yeah whatever, just load Trial of Spirit or whatever it's called." This time she actually graced me with looking up for a second before saying "You can't do that."

"I must" I replied. If behind that door is the other me then I will talk to him, Anna be damned.

"If you do not have a Spirit, you cannot do the Trial of Spirit. It's as simple as that. Or are you too stupid to understand basic Akaneian?" Wow. She was really bent on making me mad, wasn't she?

"Is there the other me in that map?" I asked, noticing how she flinched slightly as I used the term "map". Serves you right.

"Yes." She said. "Then I must get in there. I need answers and he has them."

To my surprise, she actually relented. "Fine, whatever, brat. Go get yourself killed, why don'tcha." And she fired a spell at the portal, which, manifesting… a blue void. This time I walked towards it, compared to the last time where I was pushed mercilessly into the portal. I put a hand through the portal. It felt weird to the touch. It was cool, and I felt a slight tug, not enough to force me but enough to hurry me inside. So I did. What greeted me was… Blue.

Blue sky, blue pavement (of a different shade) that mirrors, all the clichés in the "into your own mind" thingy. So... what do I do?

Well, standing around hasn't helped anybody. I began walking towards somewhere, noting with no small amount of weird that I created ripples in the pavement whenever I walked. Eventually though, after walking for a while, the environment changed. I reached a shore. And also, apparently, I was walking on top of water. Like, literal water, not just some effect thing. The shore had a beach leading to a grassy hill. I quickly climbed on top of it to find a cross legged green haired man (didn't know they had hair dye in Yilisse) with a hoodie on (but without the hood) and blue jeans. Jeans. And this guy is supposed to be a representation of me?

Also… he was snoring. Like, is this how you wait while you're about to make me a shounen protagonist? Shame on you. Which I guess is, shame on me.

I sat cross legged right in front of him, but after a while got bored. So I decided to start poking him with the butt of my lance. I reversed my grip on my lance and…

*poke*

Found myself trying to avoid getting a dagger through my neck. After a while of struggling though, the other me seemed to realize who I was and let up, dropping the dagger. He seemed to be sizing me up.

"Huh. You're even shorter than I remember." THE M #$%!^*)£ER HAD BARELY 5 INCHES OF ME AND HE CALLED ME SHORT?

I took my lance and started thrusting at him, getting every single attack easily parried before he sent me sprawling with a poke on the forehead.

"Yeah, yeah, get over yourself." And, with a shit eating grin, I jumped onto his shouders. He clearly didn't expect that, so I simply sat there with a smug face, which was quickly wiped off as I realized what had just happened.

We both turned towards the void with annoyed looks, and the older me (Which I will refer to as Nicholas for simplicity's sake) spoke up first: "Really? How long have you been waiting to use that gag? Since the fic started maybe?" I nodded and added "Yeah, it wasn't even that funny."

"Anyways, author bashing, which is always funny, aside, why are you here? You're one spirit too early to start bothering me." Nicholas asked.

"Ah, right." I jumped down and shouted, exponentially loud "Why the fUCK ARE YOU NOT WITH **ROSE AND THE OTHER CHILDREN?!"**

To which he replied with a "Well, sorry, didn't get the memo that I'm supposed to be alive." Wait what?

"But you ARE alive. You're here, talking to me." I countered. He simply made a tsk sound before grabbing my hand and putting it onto my chest. What?

*th-thump* *th-thump*

"Can you feel it?" to be honest, nothing aside from my regular heartbeat.

"My heart?" I replied, unsure of what he meant. He nodded and then put my hand on his own chest. "And now?" I waited.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Still nothing.

"Your heart doesn't beat?" I asked. He simply shook his head, and all my anger melted away, transforming into pity.

"Well… I'm sorry." To which he simply chuckled and shook his head. "Meh, I simply got unlucky, you know? Sometimes you do not get to summon the 5-Star Performing Azura you want on Heroes and sometimes you get summoned yourself to a bad timeline. It happens." He shrugged. To be honest, no, it really doesn't happen, but I'm not gonna tell him that.

"I would like to compare our adventures up until this point to see if the script I remember is still salvageable or you went really off course." He asked, out of the blue. Or I guess now that we were on the hill, he asked out of the green(heh). It made sense though.

"Alright, sure. Do I begin or…?" He shook his head and replied, "No, no. No need to talk. Just open your mind and we'll both be able to see how the other went." Alright then. Everything that has lead up to my adventure…

* * *

 _I killed myself when I was 15 years old, as I couldn't bear to be such a failure._

 _(I was killed at 17 by a robber who decided that a few bucks were worth my life.)_

 _I felt the wind pick up as a portal started sucking me in while I bled out._

 _(I felt myself sinking into the ground as life began leaving me from the bullet hole.)_

 _I got healed by Virion's Elixir and began killing zombies, thinking it was just a dream._

 _(The Risen were never there without Marth's portal, so I simply wandered till I found a village, not even knowing I was into Fire emblem.)_

 _I joined the Shepherds and became a Soldier._

 _(I never even knew about the Shepherds until much later.)_

 _I travelled to the Outrealms, knocked into Aversa and received a dear friend, Roy, Young Lion._

 _(I travelled to the Outrealms, knocked into Aversa and received a dear friend, Roy, Young Lion.)_

 _I fought alongside the Einherjar, and received Marth as a "prize"._

 _(I was assaulted by Elincia, but Old Hubba managed to knock her off her Pegasus and I quickly jumped on it, its wings turning black and I becoming somehow a Peg Knight, riding Zephyr, my dearest friend.)_

 _I was nearly killed by Lyn, but I was saved by Marth in the end._

 _(I duked it out with Caeda in the air and somehow won. I couldn't believe it myself.)_

 _My failure as a tactician nearly cost us all our lives._

 _(We easily won afterwards, none of us dying thanks to my tactics)_

 _I started traveling towards Donnel's island, but ultimately turned back seeking answers about Rose._

 _(I travelled to Donnel's island, staying in wait to guard the village)_

 _I am here._

 _(We defended the village, and started traveling towards Themis.)_

 _ERROR 417:OI£" !$))(UX()U!£UERI£"!UR("%_

 _(We travelled towards Themis, hoping to be able to stop Maribelle's abduction.)_

 _A sharp pain courses through me and I fall to the ground, clutching my head._

 _(We couldn't make it in time)_

 _More pain courses through my body as sweat sticks my hair to my face._

 _(I decided on a stupid plan: climbing up the Plegian ranks to gain some favour across the troops)_

 _Make it stop… Please…_

 _(As I got to Themis I offered myself as a soldier looking for work at the Plegian camp)_

 _I started crying, the pain becoming too much to even think straight. Maybe that dagger…?_

 _(They made me into a plegian soldier, and I got to see their side of the war)_

 _I crawled over to the dagger, picking it up._

 _(I started building an army, trusted nobody, fire emblem, only on game boy advance)_

 _MAKE IT_ _ **STOP!**_ _I plunged the knife into my chest._ The connection severed and the pain lessened. I fell to the ground again, Nicholas rushing towards me saying "No, no, no! That was too far!"

Then I passed out, unable to bear the pain.

* * *

I stared shocked at my younger self's bleeding corpse. How did that happen? I was looking into my memories of… Oh.

Oh no.

 _I think you broke him._ Sephie said.

Can you fix him?

I got the feeling that inside me she was rolling her eyes. _Depends. How long was he attempting a Divination with such ineptitude?_

A minute or so, I think? She hmmed.

As the wind spirit manifested with a tug out of my soul, I got to think. What I saw was… shocking, to be honest. I'm glad that he managed to get inside of the Shepherds, but… the fuck was that earlier? He shouldn't have gone down at 15! I was 17 when I got transported to Ylisse. But I can't think of any reason why he would kick the bucket THIS early. What could have changed?

 _His magic system is shot, his mind is as blank as Efreet's brain and he has an internal hemorrhage. Like, really bad. In time he'll recover but even the most basic spell will destroy him. The rest of his body is fine, he didn't hit a major artery and the knife can be safely removed if you apply gauze._

Well, that's bad. And… he still has this? I bend down to grasp the necklace on his limp body. I mean… now he needs it more than ever, but… down the line this thing will only cause trouble if he doesn't learn how to actually dodge.

 _That thing's also draining away at his magic. I actually have no idea how he even could stand having it for so long and not even taking notice._

And with his magic system shot I'm not willing to take a risk of even more magic drainage.

 _So what now?_ She asked. We wait, I replied. He ain't waking up anytime soon.

And wait we did. For 2 days.

At the beginning of the third day he began stirring.

* * *

Ugh, my head… it feels like I've been run over by a truck. Which, considering my track record, may not be so hard to believe (what track record?). I'm all sweaty, my shoulder feels like someone stuck a knife in it, my throat feels like it's been vigorously rubbed with sandpaper, I feel like I'm floating a meter above the ground, I feel dry and I'm crankily complaining ok I'll stop now

" _WAKE UP!"_ a high-pitched scream blasts in my ear and suddenly, I'm up and out of the bed (when did I get into a bed?), a being that look like a fairy with an oversized sword on his back in front of me

"Finally you woke up! Took your sweet time, huh? Come on, come on!" He started dragging me by the hand while I was still trying to make any sense of the situation. Who is this guy? And where are we?

The Fairy man thing proceeded to drag me over to the middle of nowhere where a green haired man was. He smiled at me and said "How are you feeling?"

Well, to be honest…

"Like shit." I replied, not in the mood for using any real conversational skill. To my surprise, though, he only chuckled in response.

"Yeah, I can see that. With a magic system as atrophied as yours I'm surprised you didn't die from attempting a divination without a clear target. You were lucky, you know." Wait backtrack the fuck up. Magic system? Divination? What is this dude talking about?

"Are you high?" I asked, because honestly, grateful as I was that he helped me… I think, he was talking bullshit. He frowned, and out of the blue asked: "Do you remember your name?"

I scoffed, because of course I knew my name. This guy was higher than I thought, even without any visible red eyes. "Well, of course I know my name, it's…" but the words fell short as I, in fact, didn't know what my name was. Shit! Was I drugged as well?

He sighed, and with a weary tone he said "Just as I feared. Well, until we can find a Restore staff there's not much we can do aside from telling you what happened until now…" but I wasn't having any of that for now.

"Alright hold it right there mister divination spell. First thing first, how the fuck is that thing flying, its wings CLEARLY aren't designed to fly and it's carrying an oversized sword. Second, I still have no idea what the fuck are you talking about. And third, give me some water because I feel like I ate lava. And fourth, you still didn't tell me who are you, who is that" I pointed to the flying thing "And most importantly, who am I!" I pointed to myself for extra effect.

The man was stunned, staring at me as if I had grown a third head and opening and closing his mouth as if he couldn't even think of something to say, before the fairy (I think that's a fairy) behind him started snickering before it transformed into full blown laughter, elbowing my interlocutor and saying "Pfff, were you this much of a brat when you were younger?"

"Shut up Sephie" he replied, before sighing, "And to answer your questions: _He_ weighs much less than he looks despite standing nearly as tall as either of us, and he helps _him_ self by using updrafts. Second, if you would just let me talk for a second you fucking idiot, maybe you would understand." I gaped at him, because that's exactly what I would have said in the same situation. "Third," he took a water bottle out of his pocket that definitely was not there before and two mugs before pouring us a mug of water each "And fourth, I am you, that is Sephie, the leader of the three wind spirits, and you are a brat." He smirked smugly as he left me once again speechless. Just who is this guy? He said he was me, but that can't be right, right?

"Anyways, as I was saying: Your name is Nick. Do you remember anything about Fire Emblem? That would make everything so much easier." Fire emblem… uh… there were 15 of them right? Unless you count Heroes…

"Yeah?" I replied, tentatively. What did a game have to do with all of this, though?

"Well," He began "To put it bluntly, we are in it."

"Say what now."

"What." He said, with a smirk so smug it made me want to hurt him. My hand twitched minutely but noticeable towards my back, to which he said "Ah, good to see that your however little instincts still are there, it would _totally_ suck to have to train them back." And I started sweating bullets.

"Anyways" He said with as much nonchalance as if he hadn't just been disappointed at not being able to inflict bodily harm on me "Back on the topic at hand. We are in Fire Emblem: Awakening, home to fanservice, Mary Sue avatars and future shenanigans." He continued. "Aww…" I said. "I would've preferred Rekka no Ken or Path of Radiance." I pouted. The sound of loud coughing brought me back to reality "ANYWAYS, as I was saying, we are in Fire Emblem Awakening, and you are currently a member of the shepherds" "Am I Robin?" I interrupted him, again. "I wanna be Robin."

I saw a toon vein pop up on his forehead as Sephie snickered, before he sighed again "No you are not Robin-shut the fuck up I'm not done talking-you joined during chapter 1 while they were getting attacked by the zombies and became a soldier oh my god don't interrupt me" he said as I raised my finger to pronounce my displeasure at being a soldier "and right now the Shepherds are at the Feroxi arena fighting Lon'qu." This time I had a genuine argument to say, but before I could even start talking "I know what you are thinking, but since your-my intermission caused ripples Lucina is about as out of character as she could be. If you hadn't figured that out, yes, I am you, and to answer your next three questions: You weren't with the shepherds because you had decided to see if you could get home first, got Roy by a complete accident, then went to the Champions of Yore 1, nearly got cut down by Lyn, met our niece, yes, she's our biological niece, I'm not telling you how because I don't wanna be there when you realize it, and you turned back after leaving her at Donny's village because you were looking for answers, then by a complete and genuine mistake I made you use a divination spell even though you have magical atrophy, and it led us here." He finished, panting slightly from the whole speech.

…

This guy was too good at leaving me speechless.

"So, any questions?" he asked.

"Only one. Well, actually two, although one is more of a curiosity." "Go on." He nodded.

"Well, the most important one is… what to do now. It's obvious I had a life with the shepherds, however short it was, so I can't just show up at their doorstep lacking all my memories."

"A good question, indeed." He nodded. "Lucky for you, I have already prepared a letter to present to Chrom that will make him not question anything and simply let you in, where you should regain your memory. Sorry, but we don't have restore staves. But first, you should save Donny's village. Also, look out for magic, since your system is shot your own magic won't protect you. Basically you have 0 res." I nodded. "And as for my other question… have you ever beat Apotheosis?" This time, he grinned and simply stuffed his hand in his pocket before tossing me a shield.

"Holy shit! Is this?"

"The Final Emblem, yeah. Took me fourteen tries with Einherjar only to get it, but damn if I aint proud of that. Oh, now that I think of it, do not summon Roy. Let my niece Rose summon him, you still do not have enough magic to keep up the summon." I nodded in understanding before handing it back to him.

"Well, if that's everything… I guess I'll see you? Now I just need to- WAIT!" I turned around suddenly. "I want that." I said, pointing to his pockets.

"You're gonna have to earn the emblem if you wa-" but I cut him off. "I don't give two shits about the emblem. What I want is the Hammerspace. I want to be able to carry around all the junk I want." He blinked twice before starting to laugh. "You'll invent it eventually, don't worry." He said, a teasing glint in his eyes. "But I want it noooooooow." I whined, because at least with myself I could whine, right? "Sorry, kid. No can do right now. It's still magic." He snapped his fingers and a portal opened behind me before saying "See ya!"

"Kid? You're barely older than me!" I shouted. He replied with a grin "I'm flattered you think that, but I'm fourty." I gaped at him. "Oh, and by the way. THIS. IS. YILISSE!" And he kicked me in the chest, right into the portal. "Ah, that felt good." And then I could see him no more, and I felt like I was traveling at a one hundredth of the speed I should be going. It felt like the air was made of molasses and I couldn't breathe. But I didn't need to. And then, the weariness suddenly caught up to me, and I fell asleep.

* * *

 **A/N A 3.5k word chapter without Omake! Yay! (altho next chapter I will make omake)**

 **Also, before any of you starts cursing me because "AAAAAAAAAAH YOU WHIPPED OUT THE AMNESIA CARD" This is only temporary. I did so simply because we wouldn't want Nicholas spoiling too much of the plot now, would we? ;) Also as some of you may guess, Nick and Nicholas' adventures went VERY differently. The two years of experience and confidence Nicholas has over Nick made him win his first battle rather easily, given the chance to bring in aerial support. If you wish, I could start writing a spin-off series to this one called The Otherwordly Soldier: New game-. Lemme know, yeah? And… end of chapter status notes, because despite the lack of fighting, something changed, and I'm also going to post Nicholas' stats for the sake of it.**

 **I part with you finally with the Stats! Please proceed to ignore if you are NOT a sucker for stats like me. Ninni51, out.** *drops mic*

 **Nick and Nicholas' growrates are the same for obvious reasons.**

Nick

Lv 10 Exp 09

Class: Soldier

Hp: 15/26 65%

Str: 13 50%

Mag:10 (0) 55%

Skl: 12 60%

Spd: 14 60%

Lck: 7 45%

Def: 9 30%

Res: 17 (0) 65%

*in which the () are current stats.

Status:

-Magical Exhaustion: Mag and Res drop to 0.

-Memory Loss: Support bonuses are cancelled. Can only be restored using a Restore wand.

Skills:

-Riposte

-Toss: Active skill: Lances gain range 1-2, effects are cancelled, cannot crit.

Items:

-Killer Lance Mt 10 28/30 Hit 85% Crit 30%

-Wing Spear Mt 8 28/28 Hit 90% Crit 10% Effective against mounted and armored units.

-Rescue 5/5

Supports: N/A

Nicholas

Dark Flier Lv 20 EXP 00

Hp: 0/48

Str: 28 (23)

Mag: 36

Skl: 34 (30)

Spd: 40 (34)

Lck: 20

Def: 17 (24)

Res: 41 (53)

*in which the () are unmounted stats.

Status:

-Dead: This unit is dead. Can only be restored using an Aum staff.

Skills:

E-Vortex+ (Dismounted only): Unit can cast Wind, Elwind, Rexcalibur without a tome and not have penalties

E-Canto (Mounted only)

E-Speed +2

-Relief (Mounted only)

-Rally Movement

E-Lancefaire (Dismounted only)

-Darting Blow

E-Galeforce+ (Mounted only) Unit can move 2 times per turn.

-Impale

E = Equipped

Blank space = Available, but not equipped.

Items:

-Illusion Charm

Supports:

-Roy: B

-Marth: B

-Belle: A

-Rose: A

-Inigo: A

-Lucina: B

-Owain: B

-Cynthia: B

-Severa: C

-Kjelle: C


	8. Chapter 8

**Jax Smallbine: You see, a concept as simple as a physical form for elements is basically water for fantasy story writing. It will fit just about anywhere. I simply chose Tales of Symphonia's incarnation because I feel it would be the one to do it more justice. That, or I could've put in the MGQ variant of the spirits, but let's try to keep this story T rated as long as possible, yeah? (regardless of the fact that I'm gonna add torture scenes) I do not plan to add much more into the mix (Maybe some spells, but I don't know right now). I sincerely hope that nobody is disappointed by this addition, but since I recently started playing the tales games (they were on sale on Steam :D) I just couldn't not throw them into the mix. So yay.**

 **Some Guy In An Ambulance: I think you're referring to the knights in this game? Soldiers have never been known for boasting great defensive stats, but rather an even spread across the whole board and realistically, the armor only protects key points like shoulders and chest. Under that is pretty much cloth (Gaiden's soldier outfit has no helmet) The only exception is RD Aran with his 70% defense growth, but in other games they're more around 35-45% growth. Nick's simply a wimp when it comes to being attacked physically. Never having worked hard in his (my) life and never having fought before makes it so that he can't take a decent hit, and he's not bulky in HP either. I feel like Nick's focus on speed and magic (which I will find a way to get into play, don't worry) would make him closer to a grounded Dark Flier, or for a better comparison, more similar to a more Magic oriented Nephenee. Oh, and he's currently wearing no armor and can't defend himself with magic so don't expect him to tank a hit anytime soon.**

 **I have been having some issues recently so I hope you people won't mind if the chapters coming once a week and may come earlier or later (depending on how I feel). Just don't count on this story being over anytime soon, eh? I'm planning to branch this into Fates and/or Heroes (although the Heroes series would be more about lighthearted shenanigans while Fates would be more serious and dramatic, since I oh so love writing drama. And I hate it. I have a weird relationship with drama, where I'm particularly good (or at least I'm better at it than other genres, I think) but it leaves me a sobbing mess for the days after because I imagine the plight of the characters I write about) so yeah. By the way, the first chapter of False beginnings is up! Go read it! But I'm getting sidetracked here. Anyways, enjoy the chapter, please read and review or from next chapter on, you'll have to pay 4.99USD a chapter to feel a sense of accomplishment about unlocking every different chapter. Toodles!**

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Sickle to Lance**

Hangovers, despite being a recurrent factor in my life, sucked. Sadly, they were also quite necessary to, as Gaius would say, "functioning as a decent human being." Whenever somebody mentioned his unhealthy obsession with sweets. I'm frankly surprised that he managed to maintain an healthy physique, although that may be partly thanks to Lady Maribelle.

 _Their mangled corpses in the jaws of a Necro Dragon, barely even recognizable as human-_

Yeah let's get off that train of thought right now ok? Ugh. It hasn't been even 5 minutes that I woke up and I already feel the booze calling me. If Inigo was here he would pester me about it to no end. Inigo… I wonder, where is that idiot? Him and Belle crossed the portal together… They're probably following the plan then. Way better than I did…

" _Alright kiddies, here's what we're gonna do when you go back into the past. Cynthia, Lucina, you'll play a crucial role here: to meet up with Chrom and join him the Shepherds after being defeated as the champions under the pretense of being Feroxian mercenaries sent by Basilio. While you look indistinct enough that any resemblance may be attributed to coincidence, Cynthia, Lucina, you're gonna have to mask your identity. Your blue hair and mark would be a dead giveaway. For the same reason, I cannot have you wield Falchion for now. I know that it's Chrom's last memoire but- "Lucina cut him off first though "It's alright." She smiled, turning towards Severa, our resident second hand lord, and handing her the sacred blade "I can trust you to do a good job with this while I'm gone?" Severa seemed genuinely surprised for a second, before putting her "tsundere" mask back on, as uncle would call it. "Of course I'm gonna do a good job. Who did you take me for, Lucy?" She huffed, but she was smiling._

" _Right, onto that, Severa, you will go by sea here" he pointed to an island to the west of plegia where there were the numbers 10 and 18 "-and deal with whatever obscenities are situated here like pirates and risen, together with Brady. Stay on guard for any news of the war against plegians ending, and when it does rendezvous post haste at the location we decided. Any objections?" He asked. Brady was about to protest, but a kick to the shin by Selena shut him up. "Right. While in Ferox there are pretty strong people, we should still send some of you guys to make sure the situation doesn't get out of hand. Noire, Kjelle, you'll be working respectively in East and West Ferox to make sure that everything goes alright. I myself will place a binding rune at the Ruins of Time so that any influence made by Grima" Their name alone sent a shudder through everyone" is sent there. I doubt that he'd send anybody, but you can never be too careful." We all nodded. "Yarne and Laurent, you two will work in Ylisse, Yarne to investigate the rumors of a possible Taguel colony in the west" Yarne, despite everything, looked like Nagamas came early, even though it was like 3 days ago and we don't celebrate it "while Laurent will continue the research on water based magic." He sighed. "Finally, Owain, Inigo, Gerome, Rose and Belle will scout for seeds of revolution in the Valmese army when Walhart's conquest takes place and unite them, and Nah will check in this island to the east of Ferox for any signs of unnatural activity on Grima's part. Everybody ok with the plan?"_

If I knew how much the plan was gonna suck, I would've never agreed with it… of course I had to mess it up before it even started… Sadly though, I was going to have to play my part if we wanted to avoid Grima's world domination… and as much as I wished to, I couldn't hang around with Nick any longer. It was too bad… Lucina and Cynthia are spoiled rotten since they get to be with their relatives. Or maybe not, since they can't tell them about being related. It's so confusing…

Then I suddenly remembered something.

" _Oh, by the way, Rose." He said in a much more casual tone. "When you meet my other self, can you give this to him?" he said as he handed me a card._

I took the cards out of my pocket. They felt nice to the touch, both filled to the brim with his mana, representing that they belonged to him… it was somehow both reassuring and grim at the same time. I read their names. I realized that, despite being handed these cards by them, I never actually got to read their names.

First I turned the much more obvious card. "Prince Marth, Savior of Altea." And under it, a set of statistics that made it look like they were from a card game.

LODESTAR, LV15,HP31,STR14,MAG2,SKL22,SPD21,LCK20,DEF14,RES10

Huh, aside from magical capabilities the prince did not look bad at all, I mused, realizing that uncle had given me a pretty decent card. So a stranger that barely even knew me cared more for me than my own uncle, I suddenly thought bitterly.

I huffed. "Well, let's see you as well Mrs… Hauteclere?" I stared at the card, unsure of what else to say. The card read "Hauteclere, Divine Blacksmith". Staring back at me was a muscled woman with auburn hair, covered in soot and wearing an apron and a bandanna, topped with a hammer slung over her shoulder. Alright… what about your stats?

WARRIOR, LV10,HP43,STR22,MAG10,SKL16,SPD19,DEF20,RES13

I let out a low whistle as I read the stats. I had the prince of Altea with me, andt he old man was still in his prime. It's too bad I'm gonna have to end up giving him to Uncle. It would've been nice to have bodyguards. I decided to summon Marth, having made my mind.

"You call, milady?" He asked, looking around for any signs of battle around us. I shook my head and smiled sadly at him. "Prince Marth, please stay here to wait for my uncle. I'm gonna have to leave." He nodded at me. "I see. I suppose I couldn't persuade you not to go away, could I?" He shook his head in amusement. "Please, take care of yourself. Peril waits around any corner to strike." I then handed him the other card "Uncle wanted me to hand this to himself when I saw him, but I guess I'm not gonna be around for a while. Could you handle this instead?" "Of course. I will make sure to give it to him." I turned towards the door to leave, when suddenly a hand landed on my shoulder "He would be proud of you." My eyes widened as I registered what he had just said. "Remember that. Always." "Right." And with that, I left. Damn, dust is getting thick in the air. Some even got in my eye. That must be why there's tears in my eyes.

* * *

 _2 days later_

I woke up feeling much more rested than before, but still feeling like someone decided that my head was a good place to drop a rock. I was also still in the portal thick molasses thing where I couldn't breathe but I really didn't need to. But how do I leave? I remember the other me telling me that I should've gone to Donnel's village…

I felt the… thing… shift around me as I thought that, and suddenly I was in the sky, pretty close to a village that seemed to be attacked by bandits.

Then I was being dropped at very high speed and holy shit oh my god I'm gonna die-

But the liquid absorbed the fall as we got to the ground, and suddenly I was breathing air again. Covered in unidentified liquid and just had an heart attack, but relatively harmless. It also seems to have let me free when we landed, so that's cool. I still have no idea what that was, but s'okay.

I hear a scream from behind me as I see a villager running towards me, being chased by someone else. I think that's Donnel? Ah, right. Bandits.

"Save yerself! Run!"

I just stared dumbly at the boy in front of me making frantic gestures as he tried to get me to run away with him.

"Oy! Look! The piglet's found a friend! Bwah hah hah!" And there's stereotypical bandit N.3014. Neato.

"Hold on, what's going on here?!" I ask. Haven't even been 5 minutes since I'm awake and I'm already getting into a fight?

"You die now, that's what's going on! Hah!" And the bandit began charging towards us. I put myself in front of Donnel protectively. No idea why, since I'm wearing no armor, but according to the other me I'm a Shepherd, so a common bandit shouldn't be a problem for me, right?

I just stared at the guy charging at us. Well, me, since Donnel is currently running away because he's scared shitless. As for me… Well, I was about to take this bandit seriously, but he's _slow._ I remember this chapter being relatively easy because I would always do it when my units were level 6-7 but really, what the hell is this guy doing?

I just shifted slightly to the side as his axe is about to chop me in half. While he's slow, I don't doubt that being chopped in half hurts.

We repeat this song and dance while Donnel's staring in a sort of shocked awe for a while before I get tired and knock into his head with the butt of my lance twice, knocking him unconscious. That was disappointing. When did I get so good with a lance anyways? I'm sure that I couldn't do that before.

"Can you tie this guy up?" I ask Donnel. I don't have any rope, and if he doesn't either we're gonna have to do something else. Sadly, he shakes his head no. I feared he would say that.

"Well." I huffed. "Then we're gonna have to make do like this." I reverse my grip on the killer lance as I thrust it into his chest. The unconscious bandit whimpers, but doesn't wake up, so I just repeat the process until he dies before returning the lance to its rightful place on my back. Also apparently that was enough to snap Donnel out of his trance, because he comes up to me and shouts "That was amazing! How'd ya do that? You just dodged out of the way like it was nothing!" He's basically in my face. Personal space, much?

"Hold on. Now that there are no nuisances, could you tell me what the hell was going on? There must have been a reason that guy was chasing you. Was your village attacked? Oh, and who are you?" I asked. I knew that it WAS attacked, but I couldn't tell him that now couldn't I? Without the view from the air I had before the village's barely in sight.

"Ah! Right! That rotten-toothed pig stinkin' bandit ye just ran off attacked us! Damns them… 'nyways, name's Donnel and please help me! I'm the only one who got out, n' barely! Please, ya gotta help me save me folks! Ma's all I got in this world!" He says in just one breath. Alright, sure. I was heading there anyways, and seems like there's no Shepherds here to take care of the bandits. Does that mean that canonically Donny gets killed? That's sad. I thought paralogues were canon. Or maybe this is AU. I don't know. Anyways…

"Sure. Lead the way."

* * *

There were a couple of differences here than canon. Like, the fact that the bandit didn't come back so he couldn't warn the enemy of our arrival, and the fact that the enemy's hands were already full dealing with someone else. Oh, and it didn't immediately become night. It barely took us half an hour to get there.

Marth. Holy shit did the prince of Altea put the bandits to shame. He was dodging left and right with ease, looking like he was barely grazed by the enemy as he continued dodging. However, since six bandits were dogpiling on him, he had to focus on dodging so much that he couldn't counter and he seemed to be tiring. In the meantime,

"Come on Donny! We need to save your village, right?" I told him. He was shaking like a leaf, but nodded…

And charged in the middle of the group attacking Marth (which consisted of four axe wielding bandits and two archers), shouting like a madman. I had to go after him to prevent him from getting himself killed since it was sort of my fault. With his bronze lance there wasn't much he could do, but luckily, the bandits seemed to realize this as well and focus on Marth once again, who in the meantime had already dealt with one of them with his Falchion. I held two of the axe wielding bandits at bay abusing the long range of my lance while managing to graze their shoulders and nick the left one in the side. One tries to jump onto me but I jump back, holding my shield up to block an arrow. The more wounded guy decides to chuck his axe at me and I hold up my shield again, making the hand axe impact against it. Even though I blocked it, it still hurts like a bitch. I decide to return the favour and gripping the killer lance like a javelin, I chuck it at the bandit who clearly didn't expect it because he just stood there frozen as the lance lands square in his eye, ending any chance that he could have at banditry. Damn, that's morbid.

I look for a second towards Donnel and see that him and Marth are still dealing with the other four bandits, locked at a standstill as the two archers keep chucking arrows at them. Damn. No help's coming my way then.

Alright, alright, what to do… angry bandit coming at me…

An idea comes to my mind. Maybe if I just…

I unstrap the shield from my arm. I know it's not a good idea but I've got to try. I shout "LUNA!" before launching my shield at the bandit, captain America style. As it travels, its edges suddenly become sharp as the shield cuts straight into the bandit, before bouncing off to kill the bandits attacking Marth and going towards Roddick and killing him as well, before returning to my hand, without a single stratch or imperfection on it.

Yeah, right. I wish.

What actually happened is that I did launch my shield like a frisbee towards the bandit and as it impacted against his chest, I began running. My shield arm is still throbbing from the hit I took so it's not like I was gonna use it anyways, but at least it makes for a useful distraction as the bandit, confused, doesn't notice me picking up my Killer lance again and charge towards him. I try to come up with an epic quote to say while I kill him, but nothing comes to mind while I pierce his chest. A shame. While I normally would feel sad, or guilty, or anything, these guys are BANDITS. I don't care what their life stories are, they still turned to robbing and killing people and _enjoy it._ I have no mercy to offer for these guys.

I turn towards my other two fellows in time to see Donnel let out an animalistic roar and holy shit he just rammed his spear up that guy's ass ow ow

The other bandits are dead as well, and while Donny looks a bit bruised and his pot slightly more dented, he looks no worse for the wear than me, if a bit winded. Marth remains somehow without a scratch and looking fabulous as always. Asshole.

"So, are there more of them, or did you take care of the rest, Marth…?" And then I realize something. This is Marth. Prince of Altea. Very much four thousand years old. With the blue einherjar aura around him. Seeing my confusion, he says "We'll talk later. Right now there are four more bandits inside, and their leader. We should proceed with caution. Also, if I may, why are you not summoning Roy?" I have Roy? It would've been nice to know that beforehand… but I'm also magically exhausted, and I have no idea how to summon him. I simply shake my head no before telling him "We'll talk later about that too." And so we started sneaking inside the building. Well, more like not making our presence immediately known, but whatever. It's not like you can exactly sneak in a building after having fought outside quite noisily.

I took a peek inside and saw that there were the four bandits, two archers, a thief and a brigand to be exact, plus Roddick sitting leaning against the wall smirking to himself with a woman kneeled before him with tears in her eyes, gagged, both facing towards us. And around them a sickening scene… the corpses of the villagers hanging from racks as if they were in a butchery, their bodies opened us for us to see their guts. Had I eaten something in the past few days, I think I would've vomited.

"Well, well well. Lookie who arrived here. The little rat and his friends. Decided to get rowdy with my boys, eh? Welp. I've decided to get rowdy with the little villagers. How's that? Sounds pretty fair to me." We stand in the doorway, stunned at the spectacle going on before us. Donnel's trembling and tears start leaking out of his eyes. He looks like he can barely keep the lance between his hands. Roddick raises his Silver axe, making us all raise our guard. "Oh. By the way. This nice lady was your mother, wasn't she? Look at how pretty her face is. Yes. Very pretty indeed. So pretty that I'll let you see it up close!" And with that he brings his axe down onto her neck before tossing her head our way. We're all just frozen. Donnel's trembling even more than before.

"So what will you do, lamb? Run away like before from the big, scary wolf? You're pathetic. Come on, c'mere and let me bring this nice axe down your neck. Don't you wanna see your mommy?" he spits on her body for good measure, and apparently that was the last straw because Donnel suddenly snapped and charged forward, screaming. It wasn't a comprehensible scream, something that only someone in that much pain could do. As he did that, all hell broke loose.

Marth began fighting the archers as Donny went for their leader with as much rage as humanly possible, being twice as fast and hitting twice as hard as before. I was faced with the bandit, who tried to slash me across the chest twice with his axe before decking me across the face, surprising me. As I reeled back nearing the wall, an arm snaked around my neck bringing a knife to my throat. As I struggled to avoid being gutted like a fish, the first bandit came towards me and tried to give me a new haircut with his axe, but I gently refused and suggested my friend take it, by grabbing his arms and turning around so I was facing the wall and the thief was facing the bandit. Not expecting it, the bandit dug the axe into his buddy's head, killing him. As soon as I felt his grip slacken I turned back towards the first bandit who was now disarmed and pointed my lance at him as he tries to charge me, only to get impaled by my killing lance, snapping it in two with his weight. Damn. I have just the Wing Spear now.

I turn towards the rest of our squad to see that Marth was dealing with the archers while Donnel's still duking it out with Roddick. I briefly wonder if I should help Donnel but right as I'm about to step in he suddenly jumps back before charging and shouting "This is for Ma'!" And he impales him. He retracts his lance and "This is for Pa'!" Again "For Jerry!" Again "Fo' Susan!" Again "For Rose!" What? "For everyone!" And with one final stab he ends the bandit's pathetic life. He drops to his knees next to his mother and starts crying "*sob* Oh Ma'… if only I was stronger…" I step in to put my hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry Donnel." And I truly am. I'm fairly sure that this was my fault. I didn't see it coming, but me killing that bandit made it so that they wanted to take revenge on us. I'm not gonna be stupid and say "Ah it's all my fault boohoo" because it's not. It's like, 10% my fault. It was still this kind of scum who did this. I'm not gonna blame myself, because I honestly could not know, but I WILL make up for it. I will protect Donnel. I'll make sure he gets to join the Shepherds. He needs a family more than anything now. This stupid war suddenly feels that much more real.

Then the last bandit decides to ruin everything by shooting me in the fucking side. You know, my unprotected, very much made of flesh side. I'll admit to it being my fault, since I wasn't paying attention, but still. Emotional moment, yo. This is supposed to a be a cutscene or something.

Marth beheads the fucker for good measure.

As I'm still keeled over, Marth comes close to me and says, with a gentle smile "We must remove the arrow. On my 3, alright?" Oh no. Nonono "1" But he's already removed the arrow. "MOTHER FUCKER PIECE OF SHIT GODDAMNIT WHORE ASSHOLE!" Both of them are staring wide eyed at me after that string of slurs. I just give them both my best deadpan and ask "What? Any of you gonna help me or you want me to bleed out?"

Donny rushes over to me and uses a concoction of herbs and stuff before covering my wound with bandages. It feels funny, but better than having an open wound

"Thanks for da help with da _bandits_." He spat the word bandits with as much venom as possible. "'m sorry… could ye let me bury these bodies? Them folks need a proper burial instead of being hung like pigs." We nodded and stepped away. He needed some time to grieve as well. I also needed to explain the situation to Marth since he seems to know me.

"So… you seemed to know me. Sadly, a failed divination seems to have-" "It didn't go like this the other time." Marth says, somber. Huh?

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The last time we did this we protected the village. All the people were safe. We made it out like heroes. But this… this is but a slaughter. How many people need to die in this sick scheme of Grima?"

"I don't know. What I do know, is that we're working so that the future may shine brighter. There will always be evil and war, but there will also be the good guys like us to protect the peace." Holy fuck did that sound cheesy. But it needed to be said.

"I know. I should probably dismiss myself. I need some time to myself. Milady Rose left you a gift." And suddenly, two more cards appeared in my pocket. I took them all in hand and read them.

Marth, Savior of Altea

Hauteclere, Divine Blacksmith

Roy, Young Lion

Huh. I hope I regain my memory soon so that I can remember what these people meant to me. As I ponder that, I realize that Donny's walking towards me.

"Have you made up your mind about where you'll go? I don't think it would be wise to stay in a ghost village. I would suggest traveling with me to Ylisstol." "Yeah. I wanna become an hero my Ma' n' Pa' would be proud of." He smiled. And with that, after salvaging whatever was salvageable, we headed off towards Ylisstol on a grim, if thankfully slightly lighter note.

* * *

 **That happened. It sucked. But you know what? It's okay. Also, I'm adding OCs left and right like there's no tomorrow. Thankfully we won't have them all at the same time as Rose left and we won't be seeing her for a while. Also, yay, I spoil even more ships! Go me.**

 **About Hauteclere, hmmm… Well, I always thought it weird that there was an axe that could rival the power of the three Regalia (21 might and works as an elixir, yo) and have it just pop out of existence with unknown origins. Meanwhile, all the way in Valentia there is a blacksmith who can forge the Fucking Falchion** **™ and other divine weapons like it's nothing. So I went like "Hmmmmm…" and there you have her.**

 **I don't really have much to say about this chapter aside from posting stats. I originally planned Donnel to not have aptitude but in turn have decent bases, but his growths are terrible without it. So yeah, I can strip Marth of it, but definitely not Donnel. Also, have an omake. Read it.** *drops mic*

Nick

Lv 12 Exp 27

Class: Soldier

Hp: 12/27 65%

Str: 14 50%

Mag:12 (0) 55%

Skl: 14 60%

Spd: 16 60%

Lck: 7 45%

Def: 9 30%

Res: 18 (0) 65%

*in which the () are current stats.

Status:

-Memory Loss

-?

Skills:

-Riposte

-Toss

Items:

-Killer Lance Mt 10 28/30 Hit 85% Crit 30%

-Wing Spear Mt 8 28/28 Hit 90% Crit 10% Effective against mounted and armored units.

-Rescue 5/5

Supports:

Marth: C

Marth

Lodestar, Lv 17 Exp 31

Hp: 33

Str: 16

Mag: 3

Skl: 24

Spd: 22 60%

Lck: 22 70%

Def: 15 35%

Res: 11 20%

Skills:

-Gentle Blade

-Charm

Inventory:

-Phantom Falchion: Mt 8 Hit 85% Effective againt dragons. Holds only a fraction of its original power.

Supports:

Caeda: S

Nick: C

Donnel

Villager, Lv 4 Exp 23

Hp: 20 105%

Str: 7 75%

Mag: 2 35%

Skl: 5 65%

Spd: 6 70%

Def: 6 65%

Res: 2 40%

Skills:

-Aptitude

-Rage (From RD)

Inventory:

-Bronze Lance

-Silver Axe

-Vulnerary

* * *

 **Omake: Nobody knows how to cook**

"Alright *huff* we've done it!" After leaving the village, we've realized that we had no provisions and no money. So what did we do? We hunted a boar. Well, it was mostly Donny since I'm still wounded, but still. Now we gotta eat the boar. But then I remembered something from Robin's support conversation with Donnel.

He doesn't know how to cook.

"Alright. We've caught a boar." I say.

Donnel hums in response.

"I don't know how to cook it." I continue.

"I don't either." He says.

"So…" I trail off before an idea lights up in my head.

"Come, Marth!" I shout. After telling him of my situation, he reminded me how to summon an einherjar. It's easier than I thought.

"Enemies?" He asks, looking around.

"Well… no. But neither of us know how to cook a boar, so…"

"You summoned me. To cook a boar." He says, with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Kind of?"

"No, let me reiterate that. You summoned me" He points to himself.

"Yes?"

"The Prince of Altea."

"Yesss?"

"A prince who never had to cook for himself."

"Well…"

"Not your brightest idea, huh?"

"Definitely not." I sigh. This is proving harder than I thought.

"Well then. Roy!" I shout.

"You called?" He asks.

"We need to cook a boar."

"Why not ask Marth? I think he knows how to cook a boar." He asks, curious.

"He doesn't know how."

He turns towards Marth, who just shakes his head.

"Well, can you do it?"

"Well, the servants in the castle always cooked for me and father…"

I sigh. Well, last chance.

"Hauteclere! Come forth!"

"What do you want, kid?"

"Well, none of us know how to cook a boar, and we were wondering if…"

"SO let me get this straight. None of you know how to cook a boar, so you asked me to cook?"

"Well… yes?"

"I work with metals kid, not meat."

We all just stared at the dead boar, impaled on Donny's bronze lance.

"Well… I don't really like boar…" I begin.

"I hate boar meat." Donny "confesses".

"Us Einherjars do not need to eat." Marth says.

"I'm actually intolerant to boar!" Roy chuckles.

"I'm on a diet." Hauteclere says, with a dead serious face.

Nobody ended up eating boar that night.


	9. Chapter 9

**CD123505: I can see your point of view, but when you see someone with an hostage close to them you'd rather try and find a way to set them free rather than just attacking and risking their lives. In the best case scenario (which clearly, was not this one) you can set the hostage free. At least that's what I think.**

 **DarknessLink: I'm sorry to see you go! But sadly, I'm gonna lead this story so much down weird lane that, if you do not like weird, I do not recommend this story for you. That's just how I write. But if you have any more precise critique that you can offer, I'll be glad! Please post one last review so that I can learn from it. It's my first fanfiction after all, and errors are bound to happen.**

 **Kidemonas: Thanks for the heads up 3 I wonder though, if a crazy hard challenge is overcome easily because mary sue, was it a hard challenge to begin with, or was it poor writing that made it look like it?**

 **Guest: Thanks for clearing that up for me! I must've had a really weird coincidence then since all 4 of my Peg Knights upon promotion gained +10 hp :l**

 **Guest 2 (Unless you're the same person?): *Roy has attained the title "Our boy"***

 **Part 2: I mean, you make a future timeline and don't have ANY of the characters interact with their future selves aside from Gary stu? Think of the plot possibilities! That was one of the point that in my opinion awakening sold short. And I plan to do things with… SOME of the future children at least. Personally I hate Kjelle and Yarne's characters for being so fucking** _ **thick**_ **and in not the good way, but I'm definitely gonna use all of them, altho some may have minor parts. Can't all be protagonists, you feel me?**

 **Part 3: I'm gonna try to post a chapter every Sunday, if I can! And I'm gonna say it shamelessly that I used Nick's amnesia as a plot device to not have Nicholas spoil too much, and for something else. You're gonna have to read it to know what ;D Also, finally some confirmation that people appreciate omakes! I was starting to think that I shouldn't post them.**

 **I'm gonna keep it short since there were more reviews so Read and Review, unless you want me to be a very sad boi.**

 ***edit* I realized I wasn't very clear when I wrote. Basically, when I say a "Focus-less divination" It means that you're performing a divination without focusing on a specific something you want to know about. It's like searching for something on the internet but instead of typing the keywords you start looking through just about anything you can find. It just doesn't work.**

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Not-so-magically Delirious**

Remember the arrow that hit me? The one that the piece of shit bandit hit me with in chapter 10 right after Donny killed Roddick? Yeah, that one.

It was poisoned. Some apparently non-lethal poison that they used to abduct people, since I'm very clearly Not Dead™ but still. Fuck me when I decided to fight without armor and still expect to not get hurt. We found out about some 2 days after we left Donny's village for the north, after landing the boat, when I couldn't stop hurling and my legs gave out. Next came the swimming vision and spinning head. Yay. Oh, and our food is basically gone.

"I'm thirstyyyyy…" I whine.

"Yeah, me too." Donnel says from under me.

So now we're traveling as fast as we can towards Southtown so that we can get someone to heal me, avoiding the desert route since I'm currently taking a piggyback ride on Donnel. My magical coils (I still have no idea how it's called, but basically mana is carried through the blood and pumped by the heart, assuming one has enough by himself to replicate it. That's why I'm able to utilize magic, but it's pretty much like using a muscle that was atrophied up until now) have recovered enough that I can briefly summon them, but cannot keep up a steady flow of magic.

Also, by avoiding the desert route we won't have any chance to see Laurent. He was in this desert, right? We should go see him. I tap Donny's shoulder. "Hmm?" He turns his head towards me. "I wanna go see Laurent." I tell him. "Well, I reckon that he would like to see ya when yer all better." He tells me. "Hmm. That's true." I nod at his logic, before resuming my resting place on his shoulder, closing my eyes for a second. When I open them again, the sky changed color. Huh, weird, it wasn't nearly this dark when I closed them.

"Curse you sky! I didn't give you permission to change color!" I weakly wave my fist in protest at it. In response, an eye in the sky blinks open.

"Yeah! I'm talking to you! Switch back to morning right now!" I shout at that asshole. All it does is start crying zombies. Donny finally looks up to see what I'm talking about and turns unhealthily pale.

"Hey, come on, don't change color too man!" I tell him. Is this color changing day? *gasp* Can I do that too?! I look down to myself and see that I've become paler than Donny. So cool! Is this permanent though? It looks bad with my dyed green hair.

I turn back to the eye who is still crying zombies. "Donny, make him stop crying. Tell him I didn't mean to." I mumble. I'm getting tired. So, while Donny starts running, I fall asleep.

* * *

I wake up to the sound of a thunderclap. Motherfucker did they invent guns again? It's not raining. I try to look down, but I realize that I already am. My face is buried in the sand and it's gotten very hard to breathe. Where am I?

I look up from my current predicament to realize that Donnel's a few feet from me, a cut on his back bleeding. Huh. I turn toward the very angry Risen mage who is towering over me, a wind spell in hand. Suddenly, the wind spell is hurled towards me, destroying my clothes a little bit. Rude.

I can see in the eyes of the Risen that he's confused. Did nobody tell him I have plot armor? He can't kill me with a silly wind spell. And ooh he's trying again. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, huh? Well, the wind impacts again onto me, tearing a few small cuts into my shirt. *gasp* I get his plan now! He's trying to get me nude by tearing my clothes! HE'S A PERVERT ZOMBIE! I let out a screech as I realized his foul plan and tried to run away, only for my legs to give out under me. Right, I'm still poisoned.

Then, suddenly, the flapping of wings. What the? I look up to see that there are huge birds descending upon us. Whew, the TEB Zombie hack birdies took a while to come save me! Glad they're here though. I won't mention this in their file report. And I'll rate the hack a 4.5/5. Wait, hold on a second.

"Aww, they're not the TEB! They're just pegasus riders!" I pout. Guess the TEB really is dead. Neverthless, these new addictions clear the zombies quickly and easily, even though I saw a disappointingly little amount of birdy lasers. Shame.

"I'll give them 1/5 stars…" I mutter under my breath.

"Is anyone injured?" The one who looks like the commander of the squad of fliers calls. Well, her pegasus had a horn on it, at least.

"Yeah, Donny has a hole tore through his back." Came my startlingly clear, if a bit slurred out response.

"What about you? Can you stand?" She asks. Or he. I shouldn't assume genders, it's 2017 dammit!

"Yeah, yeah. I'm a Shepherd, it takes more than a little bandit poison to take me down." I stand up to prove my point, only to faceplant in the sand moments later. I raise my finger towards what I assume is her, not seeing and all. "May need a little help though."

She sighs before barking out another command. "Alright gals', we've found him. Clearly delirating, but safe and sound. Someone take him and his friend and we can all head home." The next moments are a bit blurry. The next thing I know, I'm mounted onto a pegasus behind a familiar looking rehead.

"Cordelia!" I say with glee as we take off.

"And how would you know my name, if I may?" She doesn't sound mad. More amused, than anything.

"Sumia used to talk to you all the time at the barracks." I nod, satisfied with how clear my answer came.

"Oh? And about what?"

"Oh, yknow. How you're an awesome rider, how cool you look, how much you like the prince, that kinda stuff." And wow, she turned red as her hair! So cool.

"Wh-What could you possibly mean?" She asks. Oh, silly her. Everybody knows about her crush on Chrom. It's kinda sad really.

And wow she turned an ever brighter shade of hair? I didn't think it was possible. Wait, did I say that out loud? I think I did. I didn't mean to.

"Yknow" I get close to tell her a secret "While Chrom is cool and all, he's a bit thick. He prefers forward. So you shouldn't beat around the bush." And wow if she keeps becoming redder she's gonna explode. Her pegasus lets out a neighing laugh. "See! Even he thinks so as well! Good boy." And then I fall asleep against her back.

* * *

I wake up the next morning finding myself in a bed, without any of my equipment. Weird, I don't remember going to bed yesterday. I kinda don't remember yesterday at all.

Then, the soreness hits me all at once. Ugh. As I groan, trying to stretch, I find that I'm, quite literally, bound to the bed. With ropes.

What could've happened?! Did more bandits come in the night? Where is Donnel?! What-

"Whoa, whoa, calm down kid. Yer safe." And god(s?) was I happy to hear a character's voice. "Hey! What happened? Why am I bound?!" I ask Sully who's next to me. "Ye were having a bad reaction to the antidote and would still have a crisis even through a sleep staff. I'm impressed, kid, but we had to bind ya up so you wouldn't hurt yourself." Phew. I'm not at the hands of a bandit or a pervert zombie. Wait, what? Where did that one come from?

"So… can you free me? I enjoy sleeping as much as the next guy, but being literally bed confined isn't nice." And then she had this devious smirk that told me that she had no intentions of doing so.

"No can do. Medic's orders." She got close and whispered in my ear "I think Lissa wants to personally chew you out for nearly getting yourself killed." And I shuddered in fear because if the game is any amounts of true (and it has proven very much so far) then I'm gonna have to get myself free as soon as possible. I started pulling at my ropes and Sully started laughing and leaving towards the door to go get Lissa. Fucking traitor. Sadly, my struggles are cut short as a very pissed shorty barges in, with a blue head standing in the doorway.

"What were you thinking?! Nearly getting yourself killed like that?!" She's shouting directly in my face, on top of the bed. That's some bad hospital room camaraderie. Even Chrom winces from the doorway but mantains his stoic face.

"Princess, could you please keep the lecture for when I have any idea what I have done wrong?" and the anger fades away to confusion on her face. "If you bothered reading the letter that I had with me you'd know that currently I know next to nothing."

"What?!" She shouts again. She seems to have a thing for busting my eardrums.

"Apparently, my body attempted a divination without any focus towards the future in reaction to… something, I have no idea, and my memories went poof." I said.

"A divination?! Are you crazy! What if- "But Chrom, my savior cuts in. "Lissa, he's right about something. Save it for when he can understand and realize." Lissa seems spent, but nods.

"Alright… well, not alright, but we can fix this. Chrom, please go grab a restore staff." She sighed. "You know, you had us worried there. Leaving without telling anybody and all." I simply shrugged, not really being able to feel guilt for something I cannot remember doing. She simply sighed again in response.

"Alright, to restore your memories we're gonna have to retrace all the steps in the divination, complete it, and figure out what event you saw that caused you a trauma so big that you got an amnesia, and then, remove it from your mind. Understand?" I nodded. I wanted this situation to finally make sense, damnit.

"We're gonna have to use a bit of dark magic for this one. While I'm personally not that great at it, we're gonna have to make do with what we have because your stupidity landed you here. Ready?" I gulped, but nodded. "Alright…" And suddenly, the room and everything else, Lissa included, was being swallowed in darkness. I started immediately feeling the strain on my body from the divination, but decided to grit my teeth and go through with it. First the things I remember.

( _I woke up in the Outrealms with the other me who helped me remember who I was)_

I began sweating.

( _I found Donnel running away from a bandit, and decided to help him clear them)_

My muscles were already as tense as they could and tensing even more.

( _We killed them all, and in return, they destroyed Donny's village._ )

I heard Lissa gasp from Somewhere out there.

( _I was poisoned, and we set out to search for help somewhere. When the Pegasus riders found us, I gave a pegasus knight named Cordelia advice on her love life._ )

I heard Lissa giggle as I began gritting my teeth from the pain.

( _I found myself here.)_

I feel like that was unnecessary, but whatever. Now the hard part begins.

( _We went to war with Plegia as the notice that Maribelle was kidnapped was given.)_

I began screaming, the pain starting to become unbearable in a few small seconds.

 _(An attempt to take the Exalt's life was made, but we fended the assailants off and she went to the capital for her own safety.)_

I think I heard a muffled gasp, but I really cannot be sure. My screaming was too loud to hear anything else clearly.

( _I died. I died. I DIED I DIED I DIED DEAD DEAD_ _ **DEAD DEAD DEAD DEAD DEADDEADDEADDEADDEAD**_ _)_

I couldn't even think clearly from the pain. I didn't even have any idea what was going on in my mind, so much was the pain. I would've probably done something about it, but my bindings made it so that I couldn't even do that. I just had to suffer.

( _Emptyness.)_

Finally, the pain died off, and the Divination was over, leaving a very shellshocked and tired me and Lissa. But the memories started flooding in again and holy shit I really was a shepherd damn and wow everything makes so much sense now.

As the sudden rush of clarity was over, I noticed that Lissa was still staring shocked at me, sitting on top of my legs. I tried to poke her, but I was still bound to the bed, which was probably my saving grace. But apparently Lissa had decided that it was no longer time to be stunned and launched herself at me in a tackle hug, all while bawling her eyes out and burying herself in my shoulder.

"I'm *sniff* I'm so sorry! I-I-I couldn't know! I didn't mean to make you relive that! Waaaaah!" And I was honestly shell shocked. I thought our relationship was rocky, but I guess after this… I don't know. I guess things will get better? Becoming friends is a weird thing. I never expected to bond with Lissa over something as silly as a vision of the future. Go me?

Eventually, she fell asleep. And I realized a startling lack of Chrom. I began to panic: this was not a good situation to be in at all! What if someone saw us? And-

But my panic is cut off at the sound of silent laughter. I turn towards the entrance of the room to see that Sully's back and is currently laughing at our predicament, while Sumia is giggling politely in a very silent way.

"Help me!" I hiss at them but it only causes them to laugh even harder before closing the room door and locking the door. Traitors! I cannot deal with emotionally unstable people! I look down to see that the princess is snuggling into me and snoring. Shit. This has become very awkward.

But the exhaustion kicks in and suddenly I'm asleep as well.

* * *

 _Is this… a dream?_

 _Where am I? Is this… sand? Hold on a second…_

 _I look up to see that I am, indeed, in the courtyard of the plegian castle._

 _Better known as Emmeryn's execution spot._

 _Around me is a battle. I am disarmed, but nobody seems to be paying me any mind. I try to touch someone, only to phase through them as I thought. So it's gonna be one of_ _ **those**_ _dreams. Sighing, I look around to search for the Shepherds._

 _I can see them all, at a standstill as Gangrel is speaking to Chrom. What are they saying?_

" _I will count to three! Throw down your weapons, or your exalt becomes the world's largest quiver. One! Two! Thr—"_

 _"_ _Gangrel, hold! ...You win. Everyone, lay down yo—_ _"_

 _"No, wait!"_

"SILENCE!"

 _"Emm..."_

"King Gangrel, is there no hope you will listen to reason?"

 _"You mean listen to more of your sanctimonious babble?! I think not. No, all I want to hear now is the THUNK of arrows, and a SPLAT as you hit the ground. Take one, long, last look from your perch. You do so enjoy looking down on people... Then prepare to meet the ground, and your maker! That is, unless someone were to give me the Emblem... NOW!"_

 _"..."_

 _"ALL RIGHT! All right... Emm, I know you won't approve, but this is my final decision. MAYBE someday we'll face a crisis where MAYBE the Emblem would've helped... But I know for a fact that Ylisse needs you, today! The people need their exalt... And we need our sister. If those dark days should come, we'll face them together."_

 _"Chrom... Th-thank you. I know now what I must do..."_

 _"Emm, what are you—"_

"Plegians! I ask that you hear the truth of my words! War will win you nothing but sadness and pain, both inside your borders and out. Free yourselves from this hatred! From this cycle of pain and vengeance. Do what you must... As I will do. See now that one selfless act has the power to change the world!"

" _Emm, no! No!"_

 _"No reaction...  
Was I wrong, then?  
Chrom...  
This is some torch I'm passing you...  
So be it.  
Chrom...  
Lissa...  
And all my people...  
...Know that I loved you."_

 _Everything played out exactly like the game. Why was I being shown this? I look at Emmeryn's body. She was smiling. It was truly sad. But why bother showing me this?_

 _Then Gangrel resumed talking._

" _As heart wrenching as this all is, we need to get back to our dinner! And while I was personally VERY satisfied by the main dish, I find myself craving for… a bit more." A truly disgusting smile appeared on his face. "So, let's also bring out the side dish!" On the dragon's muzzle I looked up to see… myself. He was lacking an eye, and his right arm looked like a mangled mess rather than a proper limb. He was staring at the place where Emmeryn had died and looked utterly miserable. And then…_

" _So, come on! I didn't get the chance to get my revenge at the Exalt, but a human quiver we promised and a human quiver we'll have!" he snapped his fingers several times impatiently. At that, Aversa raised a hand, and suddenly I heard a shout of "NO!" coming from Chrom._

 _And then… I watched myself raise his arm (since the right one looked immovable) in a welcoming way as he became the world's biggest pincushion, before falling to his death as well._

 _So… Is this my fate? To die as well at the hands of the plegians? And how did I get up THERE in the first place? None of this makes sense…_

 _Then the world turned to black and I was suddenly Nothing._

I woke up with a startle as the dream fades away, not remembering what I was even dreaming about. Lissa is gone from my legs and my wrists are (thankfully) free, and as I take a look around myself I finally realize that this is _my_ room at the barracks. I'm home. As I finally sit up to witness what was my current predicament since my destiny was starting to look like a drama conga line, I got to thinking. If my recent adventures denoted anything, is that rushing to somewhere without a well-defined plan is a big no-no if I plan to stay alive as long as possible.

Great.

And I did just get back from being poisoned, nearly killed a fair amount of times, AND just had multiple existential crisis about Woe is me, so the first question I should be asking myself is: Am I alright?

The answer is a big, non-discussable _**No.**_ I am far from okay. I took my own life, only to get thrusted in a world of semi-perpetual war that goes on and on and on and on, with zombies put in it for good measure. I am about to go fight a war that will last something something between one and six months, and I will have two years and a half to prepare for a war that will rock the world to its foundations and a fight against a world ending god. I met my other self from the future who took while he thought I was unconscious what was apparently a charm that ensured or at least helped my survival and told me that I fucked up the Plot so bad that I won't have a clue about what will happen to me even if I try to retrace his steps.

Neat.

Fucking neato.

Another thing, which I had already started thinking about but was rudely interrupted by an Anna, is that I NEED to become stronger, somehow. Obviously I cannot just hop skip and forget about my magical impediments, while I do have a fuck ton of mana (apparently) my magical output is barely as good as a mage novice AND will hurt me in the process, perhaps irreversibly. So that's a big no-no, for now.

I clearly can't become that much stronger over a small period of time, no matter how much I seem to be talented for taking lives (and how much of a sad thought is that?) without anything short of obtaining Tiki's tear or a LOT of stat boosters, but that doesn't seem likely at least before the second war, which I currently won't live to see.

What I _can_ do however is, if I cannot better myself, at least better my equipment. I don't care if it's got spirits in it (which by the way, I got a confirmation upon meeting two of the Sylph trio), that blade SHOULDN'T have cut clean through my armor as it was a piece of butter. And if Naga damn her won't give me decent equipment, fucking hell I'll make my own. I still need to find a way to produce the _true_ steel (and what name would I give it? These idiots already have something named steel.) and that implies having a blast furnace at the ready and a blacksmith at my whims. OH

I realized that I do have a blacksmith at the ready! Hauteclere! If what I saw in Echoes was any indication of her skill, with my new metal and her work we could create weapons that would rival the regalia!

I'm pretty sure I became starry eyed just now. Bad Nick! Bad! Stop being so gleeful about creating things that kill people!

But anyways, even though canon fire emblem seemed to think otherwise, a weapon is nothing without a good wielder (aside from the Wo Dao, that shit apparently gives you S rank in swords as soon as you touch it or something like that) so… loathe and afraid as I am, I should go and ask Frederick about his fitness hour, as soon as I'm not bed-ridden. I'm basically asking to be put through the wringer but I don't care, this is about survival, and while I could stave off a bunch of bandits, Marth served well in kicking down my ego a tad with that display of skill. I clearly am far from being a good soldier and being able to take on actually trained adults.

Now that I know what can I do to better myself, what can I expect to go canon with myself being added? Actually… A lot of things. If what my niece has told me (and I'm gonna ignore for now any and all implications of the fact that I have a niece for as long as possible) NOBODY knows I have knowledge of the future… aside from her. Another slip up that could be avoided, shit. Anyways, I must've planned a way to make it so that it goes just about like canon. I hope. So… Apparently the Shepherds are done with the diplomatic mission, which should've been a success. I have no idea about Maribelle's current whereabouts but since the shepherds haven't departed post-haste for Plegia then she's either still here or in Themis, since the game seemed to show only the interesting moments. Among our new recruits are Lon'qu, Donny, Ricken should finally be here. We shouldn't meet Lucina for at least a while, and the children characters are second priority at least until the beginning of the second war, barring changes that I should ask later to my futurology Marth.

And so I can decide what I want to change about the future. The first event coming up, even before Emmeryn, is Cordelia's squadron death. Can I actually do ANYTHING about it? I really cannot think of anything I say that could make a difference. And how would I get to doing that in the first place? I have no idea how it happens or why. Sadly, I think Cordelia is gonna have to have a tragic backstory.

Second is, also before Emmeryn, if only slightly, Phila's death. There was really no reason behind her death aside from fucking Emmeryn's chances to escape. This… Actually, I could definitely do that if I give Lissa my Rescue staff. It would also make the next chapter that much easier.

Then, immediately after, is Emm herself. Saving her… is probably a big no-no. In the event that she was saved, nothing short of her doing a miracle speech, which I don't doubt she could but…

I'm not really feeling generous about taking chances. These last few days have taught me how stupid of an idea that is. So, sadly, Emmeryn's gonna die.

I guess that's really all I need to account for for now.

Whew, at least I can count on the script for being my way and allowing me to prepare.

A red-haired woman with brown eyes entered the room with a tray of food in hand. At first I thought that Severa had somehow joined the Shepherds or Miriel had her look somehow completely revamped, but as I looked at her better…

"Good evening. I was asked to bring you dinner because of your unfortunate condition. Are you feeling ill?" The future Exalt's daughter look-alike asked me.

Shit-

 **Aaaaaand we're done! I'm sorry for the ending, but I couldn't just not do that cliffhanger! Personally, I'm pretty satisfied about this chapter aside from essentially re-writing a chunk of in-game dialogue for the dream sequence. Any thoughts or comments? Please write a review to let me know your opinion! Stats are unchanged, Nick has his supports (and memories, obviously) back. I got this chapter finished early and will see if I can make you have another chapter soon.**

 **Ninni51, out** *drops mic*


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello people! decided to be a bitch again and not let me upload, so here's the double update I promised! Enjoy.**

 **DarknessLink: I can see how it might be seen as a peculiar choice to use in a fanfiction the Einherjars, but they ARE characters in the game, albeit not canon. I was inspired by how "Cycle" by RoseWarden (Check that story out it's amazing even though it's very long and unfinished) and decided to add them as well. I didn't want to make too many OCs to justify a small party that's separate from the one of the Shepherds, so they came into play. I had originally planned for Nino and Anna instead of Roy and Hauteclere, but Nino seemed too obvious of a choice (I swear half of the fanfictions that include fe7 characters have her) and Hauteclere just came to mind when I realized that Anna did not appear in the game until Chapter 9 and I needed a blacksmith. I also feel like we've seen enough Anna and I didn't want to have to make a third one. There's Canon!Anna that is the usual, God!Anna who is a bloodlusty and bitter woman, I didn't need a third one. As for the A-Nick and B-Nick, eventually I will write why B-Nick is bound to that map even though he's ded as fuck, either in a future chapter or in New Game Minus.**

 **Kidemonas: *scoff* Of course I'm gonna do something for Emmeryn! What, do you think I could HONESTLY keep canon intact? You wound me.**

 **Read and review, for I am now in control of your mind and you shall obey my will.**

 **Chapter 12: A dead man tells no tales but asks many questions**

I stared at the very red-haired and very mark-less exalt before me, with a tray of food in hand. She was starting at me with a reminiscing expression as she waited for me to speak up first. It took all of my willpower not to gape at her like a fish and straighten my face out before saying: "Who… are you?" to prevent my cover from being turned to dust faster than I could say Falchion.

She looked at me with a slightly startled expression, before a look of realization crossed her face as she smiled sheepishly at me. "My apologies, I haven't introduced myself yet. As of a few days ago I am the Shepherds' newest recruit. My name is Lucina." And I simply had nothing to say to that. Chrom's daughter, Future's witness, Enigmatic Swords(wo)man, that Lucina decided to say "Fuck canon" and simply become a Shepherd under the ruse of being herself. How the hell did this happen?! Thankfully, deus ex machinas be blessed, my stomach decided to loudly protest the lack of food of the last few days as it ever so slowly digested itself. I honestly hadn't felt it up until now, but it decided to come back with a vengeance. She simply chuckled in response before handing me said wooden tray. "Right. I wish you a good night, I have a dinner to go back to." and with one final smile directed towards me, the Exalt's daughter was gone. Just… What?

The hell is Lucina doing here? What happened to her Marth persona? Just… how much did I change? What the hell am I even supposed to work with now?! Alright, think now… can I take Marth's place as I know what's gonna happen myself anyways? What did she change before becoming officially a Shepherd, let's see…

1: She prevented Lissa from getting injured or dying in the forest. That… actually probably still happened, since the portal did open and spit her out with the zombies. I think she was under the Marth ruse still for that time, before changing her attire.

2: She took Lon'qu's place in the fight so that Chrom would win. Did she do that again? The Shepherds seem to have come back home victorious, so she may have. Did she even do that to make them beat her because Lon'qu would've defeated Chrom, or something? I wonder.

3: She prevented Chrom from getting a possibly debilitating injury from an assassin and prevented (or rather, postponed) Emmeryn's death, making it much more meaningful in the eyes of both Plegians and Ylisseans, that led to the end of the war. I can probably warn everyone of the incoming danger of the assassins in her stead, even though she probably will do it herself either way, but it never hurts to be sure and double check everything.

4: She took a hit in Chrom's stead, revealing the fact that she was his daughter. I honestly have no idea what consequences this leads to, but if the other me told her to hide he must've had a reason. I'm not gonna blow her cover for kicks and giggles if I can avoid it.

SO, what do I do with this information?

 ** _*rumble*_** my body protested loudly from a week or more into lack of food as the stomach acids decided to erode away at the walls of my stomach. Ew not a pretty image. Will it away, will it away!

*sigh* For now, absolutely nothing. I dug into the food (which sadly wasn't a work of art from Stahl) as I wondered just what was I thinking when I decided to change canon. Upon finishing my food, I go to bed. Being bedridden suuuucks…

* * *

I wake up, feeling rather well rested and not like the world is gonna fall on me if I take one wrong step, if still a bit sore from the poison. I wonder what I should do today? Like maybe…

Building a rocket or fighting a mummy, or climbing up the Eiffel tower! Nah, let's keep that for when I inevitably wind up in the Phineas and Ferb universe.

I get up, get clothed, grab the money that magically appeared on my desk (Does Chrom pay 1000G a month or something?), and decide that finally it is time for a shower. I haven't had one in what feels like ages, and the barracks luckily DO have plumbing despite being in a medieval kind of place (benefits of being in the prince's entourage, hah!). As I make my way to the showers I begin whistling my favorite theme, Dialga's Fight to the Finish! It always put me in a mood to go and do stuff and be epic. While distracted, I round a corner and bump into someone, falling to the ground. As I get back up, I realize that I bumped into Vaike. As I raise my hand for a high five, he's staring at me with an aghast expression, before speeding off with a "Sorry!" while tripping multiple times. Huh. What the hell was that?

I make my way towards the showers with a cloth towel in hand, still wondering what was going on with Vaike. As I do, I spot Sully in the corridor, talking to Frederick right next to a smashed vase. There's a clumb of dirt on the ground and the… clay? I have no idea, is shattered, with the flowers laying down on the ground in a particularly sad way. Did she bump into it or something?

"I'm telling you, Chrom did this! The vase I broke is further down the hall!"

"While Milord is no doubt… rather "unaware" of his surroundings, I doubt that he would break a vase and leave it like that."

"Heya Sully! What happened?" I ask. I see her immediately stiffen before turning towards me with a clearly fake pained grimace before saying "I, ah, got a stomach ache. Gotta go. To the ladies bathroom. For the ladies. Where you cannot come. Nope." She says, before rushing off the same way as Vaike did before. "The fuck?" I wonder aloud, to which a cough from my right reminds me that there IS someone else here. I turn towards Frederick before lighting up as I remembered yesterday's plans.

"Right! Frederick, if you wouldn't mind, I would like to join your, uhm, Fanatic Fitness Hour I think it was called?" I asked him. As much as I will regret this decision in the future, I REALLY need to get into shape if I want to have a chance. And it doesn't hurt to get on the knight's good side, right?

"I do not believe that it would be advisable for your physique to join in, loathe as I am to say so." He replies. Eh? This IS Frederick right? The man who loves putting people through the wringer and "smiles only when bringing down the axe"?

"Why not?" I ask, arching an eyebrow. Is whatever's happened to Sully and Vaike affecting him too? "You see, I think… I mean…" He stutters, before his face lights up. "Lady Lissa has given orders for you to be on clear duty until you make your recovery. Yes, indeed." He nods, satisfied by something.

"Huh. I feel recovered, but whatever. I'll go get a checkup later. Medic's orders, amirite?" I ask. He nods to me, his steely self coming back up again. I look around while searching for a conversation topic before remembering that I was supposed to take a shower. "Ah, right! Sorry Frederick, but I gotta-" but when I turned around he was already gone. Huh, guess he still doesn't like me. I know I spent a night between me, Lissa, and some ropes, but it wasn't my fault! And I'm fifteen! Sex is gross, ew. Do they have different standards here or what?

Whatever.

I go inside the locker room (we have one of those, yay!) and finally get my head under a steady stream of hot water. This is bliss… sadly, it cannot last forever. I begin scrubbing my body with soap. Damn I've gotten filthy over the last week. It feels good to finally get cleaned. Now that I think about it though…

I'm a bit scared of how easily I killed those bandits. I mean, they were not easy to kill, but how I didn't hesitate even for a second to put my lance through them. Not in the metaphorical sense. Ew. Anways, I _still_ think they're scum for raiding Donny's village, mind you, but I felt absolutely nothing when I fought them aside from survival instincts kicking in telling me "Dodge this" and "Stab that". I already knew I was rarely compromised in an emotional way (aside from the fact that I fooking took my own life, but we don't talk about that), but still. I hoped that I would feel _something._ Guilt, bloodlust, anything. Not just move on with my life like always.

As I'm finally about to come out of the shower and stop these toxic thoughts, I start to hear a conversation outside.

"When do you think it will happen?" Kellam asked. Huh, so he was in here as well. In my defense, I've learned to spot him just by his armor and sheer force of will. I'm not at 100% right now.

"Gah! When did you get in, Kellam!" Stahl yelps.

"I've come in with you." Oh, great! I didn't miss him then. I know that he's easy to miss, but the guy's too lonely. And he does not do that on purpose.

"Anyways, when do you think it will happen?" Kellam repeats. "I have no idea, the princess just rushed in and managed only to say that before passing out." Stahl sighs.

"Heya guys, what are you talking about? What happened to Lissa? Haven't seen her this morning." I ask as I put a towel around my waist and leave. I was wondering where she vanished. Must've been dead tired if I didn't notice her leave.

They both freeze up, if only for a moment, before Kellam, still tense, replies "The situation with Plegia are getting more strained by the second. The princess rushed in to tell us that lady Maribelle may be in danger before she passed out due to exhaustion. We're still waiting for her recovery while a group of pegasus riders goes to check in on the situation." Huh. Damn, you didn't get to see this side of the characters in the game. Being worried for the war, and stuff. Still. Maybe Maribelle can be rescued? I also got my confirmation that she is in Themis or already got kidnapped.

"Mmh. I hope everything is fine. While I haven't personally spoken to Maribelle, it would suck to have a fellow shepherd die. Well, I hope she gets well soon. Gotta go to breakfast!" I chirp, with just a little bit more energy than usual. As soon as I get out of the shower I press my ear against the door of the locker room (or whatever it's called, I don't know about medieval terms).

"Phew, good job Kellam. Gladly he bought that." And that was all I needed to hear. So there is a secret among the Shepherds they do not want to tell me about? Fine. I won't hear it. Assholes.

I get dressed back up again in my room before heading to the dining hall for breakfast. I wonder how many people are in on this thing? It would explain everyone's weirdness.

As I grab my tray and stick some sausages and bacon (Old English breakfast, ew, when will people start having breakfast with cereal here) I notice everyone is making it so that the spaces next to them are full somehow. A leg stuck on the bench here by Vaike, a pile of books there next to Ricken, Chrom going as far as unsheating Falchion to put it on the seat next to him. And here I thought the Shepherds were a tight knit community. Guess they just don't like me for whatever reason. The only two who haven't done anything are Robin, who is already surrounded by people and Lucina. I would've said Donnel as well, but it seems that he's taking it easy this morning and stayed in bed or something. The poor fella had to carry me for a long while and then got blasted by magic. Not cool. And Miriel, who doesn't strike me as the type to do this kind of thing even knowing something, is also not here in the canteen. So there's that. Maybe they haven't betrayed me as well.

As I start to head towards Lucina I see people tensing up and going as far as making gestures like making cutting gestures with their hand on their neck or crossing their arms. Assholes. However, all she does is regard them with an amused expression. She probably knows something that they don't, but in turn I know something that she doesn't.

"Heya." I start as I sit down. She turns to me offering a smile and says "Good morning." We start eating in silence, until I'm getting really annoyed by the way the others act. Continuous gestures, staring, it's all piling up in a big ball of annoyance. "Hey, do you know why the others are acting like weirdos? I thought the Shepherds were a group or something. Guess I was wrong." I say bitterly. She just offers a shrug in response. Guess she's not in on this or she prefers to simply not talk. I still have no idea how to act around her. It's a weird thing where we both know a lot about the other but we don't know WHAT the other knows about us and we can't let the other know that we know. It's giving me a headache.

As I finish stabbing my sausages with just a bit too much force I stand up and say "Whatever. See you later." I pass by the empty kitchen to dump my dishes before heading for the training grounds. Need to let off some steam or something, unless people ALSO don't feel like sparring with me. As I get there I notice that there is only one person there: Lon'qu, who's practicing swings with his sword. I guess he's as good as a sparring partner as anyone.

"Heya. Are you new around here?" I ask him. I'm getting the acting clueless down to a science. He simply 'hnn's and resumes what he's doing. Wow, rude. But at least I expected him to be flipping me off. Small mercies.

I go grab a training lance and shield, as well as a small chainmail that, while being slightly larger than my size, will have to do, before turning towards Lon'qu and saying "You up for a spar?" I ask him. He doesn't respond, but starts walking towards the sparring field, albeit with an annoyed expression. Whatever, I'll take what I can. We go on the ends of the ground before he bows, and I reciprocate the gesture. Guess that's our begin. Or at least that's what it would've been if I had a chance to begin.

Suddenly, without even having the chance of moving, I'm dropping my lance as I'm clutching my wrist in pain and he's in front of me. I didn't expect that! But before I can even do something he levels the mock blade at my throat and says one word. "I win." He grounds out with no emotion. He turns his back to me before saying "If you're so bad at fighting it's no wonder what they say about you. You should go home. The battlefield's no place for kids." "Wait what? What do they say about me?!" I ask, but he's already gone. "Well, that was humiliating…" I say to nobody in particular. "And there goes my chance of getting a decent spar now, with this wrist… at least he didn't break it." I put away the chainmail and get the lance back in its original place, before going towards the dining hall. "Whatever. I'm going out guys!" I shout to the hall so that they know where I'm going if someone needs me. I don't expect people to need me, since I've been doing a whole lot of nothing lately, but yknow. It's the thought that matters. What I did not expect was a "No! You can't!" from Sumia who shouts in a panic from the place where she was eating.

"Why?" I ask, narrowing my eyes. "Because, uh… it's your turn to tend to the horses!" She says, with the most plastic smile I've ever witnessed.

"No it's not. I'm on clear duty, Frederick has told me." I tell her. "Well I, uh…" but I'm not even listening to her. "Whatever. When you guys decide to stop being a bunch of weirdos, you know where to find me." And I go out of the garrison and head towards Yilisstol, where people are normal. I need to get stuff done anyways. And since I need both company AND a professional's opinion… "Aide me, Hauteclere!" I called. Suddenly, in a burst of light, the blacksmith appeared. "Ya need me, brat?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "Mmh. I need a professional opinion about a material that comes from my world, and a way to produce it. But since there doesn't look to be a professional around here…" I look around, pretending to be looking for a professional smith before receiving a solid thwack on the head. "Cheeky brat. Now, what were ya thinkin about?" She asks.

"Well… basically in our world it was called steel, but since it seems that you have a different version of steel… Well, whatever, basically it's an alloy of iron and carbon made to strengthen it and remove impurities." I say, with what little I remember about metallurgy. She hums, the gears in her head turning. "So… where may I get myself the materials to make it? I need at least enough to have an armor and a few spears." I say. "Leave that to me, brat." She grins in an evil way.

* * *

Half an hour, a merchant who'll need a change of pants and 500G spent later, we've got all the materials needed to forge my new equipment (that she insisted that I carry even though she's got like double the muscle) as she drags me to the nearest blacksmith in town, all the while I'm staring at her with a confused expression. Where the hell is she taking me? She goes up to and whispers something in the ear of the fellow who eagerly lets us in his laboratory and goes back to selling weapons, tools and the likes.

"What did you tell him?" I ask her. "Wouldn't you like to know?" She replies airily. I scowl. "Well brat, let's get to work." And we do. Smithing for someone personally is apparently a much different job than making something that works for everybody. She started taking my measurements, took note on my possibly growing physique, took notice of the fact that I'm left handed, set an hourglass for when the molten steel would be done… Then came the smithing. She began with my armor, and despite not understanding a thing of what she was doing aside from the fact that there was a lot of hammering, pouring and cooling down in water (the place had become a fucking sauna) I understood that she was doing a fantastic job. I strapped on the armor that fit like a glove, and turned towards a mirror, and after cleaning it with a handkerchief (it was steamy in here) I looked at myself.

Hauteclere apparently had a very minimalistic style, because there wasn't any decoration, just the strictly necessary to protect me. I actually appreciated that. The armor I donned was the typical white-greyish of steel in color, as opposed to my old one's blue. It weighted slightly more because it actually protected my whole body instead of just the torso (and what a grand job it did against Lyn) and the shoulders. The design was very simple: plated armor protected everywhere but the joints and the head (Nobody ever will convince me to use a helmet if the rest of the shepherds can get away without using one) and my right arm was more reinforced than the rest to allow me some degree of protection if I happened to drop my shield. It felt kinda stiff because of that, but I could manage. I turned around to see that Hauteclere was just done working on my lance and shield and holy shit-

The shield (more of a buckler, really) was round, with leather straps that were melded into the shield making it possible to hold but they weren't too tight. Between the two straps there was, engraved, a symbol of a vertical line that split into three making two 30° angles. On the front rested the symbol of Naga in gold (when the hell did she have the time to do that while I was watching my armor what the fuck) and, as I traced around it, I realized that the edges were sharp.

"Don't think I didn't see that stunt you pulled kid. Since you're so keen on tossing your shield around, it may as well do something." I blushed as those words hit me. I needed a distraction, damn it! At least holy shit I was Captain America now.

I turned back towards her and took the lance from her outstretched arm. It was beautiful, really. The style was still the same minimalist used for both the shield and the armor, but it still managed to look the part. The rod was made entirely of steel, with gold spiralling around it before melding itself together in the bladed tip like the one of a naginata, so that I could also slash at people without too much hassle. This one too held on each side a rune made in gold, that looked like an A without the middle line.

"This is- How can I-" I stammered, because how could I repay her of such a beautiful gift?

"Relax, kiddo. The only way to thank a blacksmith for a weapon is to save lives using it. Remember that." "R-right!" I did not shed a tear. Nope.

As we got out of the blacksmith's lab, (and Hauteclere dismissed herself) I heard a commotion on the streets. What was going on?

As I rushed onto the streets I saw what was making so much noise: a large (and I mean as big as a horse) rodent like creature was being mobbed by the citiziens armed with pitchforks and whatever they had on hand (a lady had a frying pan) as it backed against a wall. A taguel? I rushed to the front of the crowd as they were about to lynch him. "Alright alright what's going on!" I shouted, holding my hands up as a "calm down" gesture. "That thing killed a man!" I turned towards the Taguel (can't recognize them for shit but given that Panne would've already went into a killing spree I'm gonna assume it's Yarne) with a surprised expression, before it turned into annoyance when I saw that there was no blood on its fur or teeth. "Where's the proof? There's no blood on him!" I said. "Kid get away from it!" One man shouted. Alright, this was getting annoying.

"Listen here: I am a Shepherd, and as such I'm currently the highest authority here. Now, you can all back away and we'll forget this all ever happened, or we can all go nicely to the Exalt and tell her that you have tried to lynch a creature that has no intention of defending itself. Capiche?" I asked, my smile turning downright toxic. They all grumbled something unintelligible as they walked away.

As I turned around I saw that Yarne had untransformed, and was now looking at me with a mix of gratitude and distrust. "Who are you?" I asked politely. I know the last taguel to be a coward, and to be honest one of my least liked characters, but now that he's here in flesh I can't help but feel pity for him.

A few seconds passed, before he reluctantly said "…Yarne. Why did you help me?" he asked, suspicious. "Because I'm a Shepherd and it's my job to do so?" I replied innocently. I definitely couldn't tell him that I was trying to earn brownie points in his (and maybe Panne's) eyes. He held my gaze for a few more seconds before sighing and saying "Whatever. I guess you're decent for a human. See you around." And holy shit was the transformation cool and he's gone

Well, that was random.

As I (reluctantly) got back into the barracks, I noticed that it was silent. Eerily so. I started to look around for people, but I could not find anybody. I went into the library as it was most likely that I could find Miriel, but nothing.

Wait. Did they leave for Plegia on such a short notice?! They could have at least told me!

Or not, since everybody seems to dislike me now for some reason. But I'll show them. I'll barge in like a hero and save the day!

I rushed into the stables. I couldn't possibly hope to catch up to the Shepherds… Or Ricken, for that fact, on foot. I'm supposed to be bedridden and for a good reason. But I honestly don't care. They think they can leave me out of everything? Hell no!

"Oi shithead" I said as I sprinted towards Zephyr. "I know you don't feel fine with me and all but we've got a lady to save. So, I know that the future me was your rider and all and you hate him for abandoning you and by default hate me for the same reason, but suck it up cuz' Maribelle's in danger. Got it?" I wrestled with him a little to get mounted before he subsided and I brought him out of the stables.

"Wait. I have no idea how to fly a pegasus." I said. If you strained your ears you could actually hear a pin drop as I said that, before the winged horse simply decided to take off with me seated on it and "motHERFUCKER WE'RE FLYING!" I shouted. "Woohoo!" I was holding onto the reins as the horse did pretty much all of the job. "You do know that we're going towards Plegia right? It's in the other direction." It simply neighed in response before turning towards southwest.

And now there was only one thing left to do.

"YEEHAW!"

Be a fucking idiot and pray for the best.

 **And before anyone says anything, no, he's not suddenly becoming a pegasus knight, fuck that sideways. He barely knows how to mount a horse, you think he's gonna fight while mounted and pull off all the crazy stunts? Nope. Not in this fic. Other than that I don't really have much to say aside from the fact that next chapter will be a lot longer, so buckle up kiddos. Stats are unchanged, the party's the same as before (Nick, Roy, Marth, Hauteclere) and next chapter we're gonna see some Plegia ass kicking! Also, please check out the second chapter of Lost Beginnings that I posted. With that out of the way,**

 **Ninni51, out *drops mic***

 **PS. Dropping here the stats for Uruz (the lance) and Algiz (The shield) and yes I'm shamelessly using celtic rune names ya got a problem with that?**

 **Uruz: Mt 19 Uses 45/45 Range 1 Hit 80**

 **Allows unit to survive a fatal strike with one hp if when attacked with a fatal strike (Chance: Luck%)**

 **Algiz: Mt. 8 Range 1-2 Hit 65**

 **Def+5, Res +5 when _Unequipped_ (as in, not using it as a weapon). Prevents user from receiving critical hits.**


	11. Chapter 11

**I adjusted a bit of dialogue that really didn't make sense. Future!Nick isn't fourty, but thirty-four. I was tired as hell and in a coffe-high at the same time and mis-wrote, but yeah. Sorry for the misunderstanding.**

 **Chapter 13: Plegian beatdown**

After a while of flying, I realized that there was no use in rushing. They probably took a while to get there, even on forced march, so I slowed Zephyr's full on gallop into a steady trot, much to his apparent annoyance. As my faithful (pff) steed slowed down, I started to analyze the events up from when I reached the Shepherd's garrison. I woke up in my bed, tied down, and Chrom, Lissa and Sully were acting like they usually do. No surprises there. Then Lissa forced another divination, this time while focusing on the future, and then she broke down crying for some reason. As is, I have no idea why, exactly. She must've seen something shocking that she decided to erase. Then everyone started acting weird around me. So, what might've happened that she told them to stay wary of me? I can only imagine that I killed someone important. Did I accidently kill a Shepherd or something? That's a horrifying thought.

I looked down at the ground. We were about 200 ft in the air, high enough that a fall would kill me. I have no idea if this is the maximum that Zephyr can go or if he's simply comfortable like this. We had passed Southtown a few minutes ago, so that meant that we should be nearing our destination soon. The plan would, likely, be to swoop in so that I can give Zephyr with my rescue staff to Maribelle and let her fly away with Ricken, so that she can later Rescue me while I fend off some plegians. While it would be nice, I doubt that they have kept her horse around, even though in the game they did. But it would honestly make no sense. And it would make even less sense if Ricken simply prepared a horse for her, since he was going for stealth. After that I'll just leave it to mah boi Robin to fix us with a good plan since he's the tactician and all (and since my earlier plans sucked)

I was brought out of my musings as the mountains of the border come into view. "Zephyr, could you go around the mountains so that we may pass unnoticed?" I ask the horse. He snorted before complying, going over the mountains as we went along them. Within minutes, the pass came into view.

It really wasn't anything impressive. Just a natural made tactical point that separated Plegia from Ylisse, going uphill. You'd think that with the previous Exalt razing Plegia to the ground he would've at least taken this point, but nope. Nuh-uh. This point belongs to Plegia.

In the distance, from my tactical point (which is about across the whole fucking map from where Maribelle is) I can see Gangrel and Emmeryn parleying about Maribelle's freedom. She tries to reason, he mocks her, blah blah blah, Oh! Fighters coming out of the fort! And Chrom has taken them down… Yup, there's Ricken coming to the rescue, and I should probably take off now, shouldn't I?

"Go! We gotta save them!" I shout. The plegian mage in front of us turns around, but there's little that he can do aside from shouting in surprise. I'm too high up in the air for him to do something. As I'm about to descend, I see Aversa vanishing, signalling the start of the map. She actually literally vanished. Like, zoom, and she's no longer there. Zephyr decides to take a nosedive onto the nearest plegian, who is just too shocked to do something other than stare at the incoming horsetrain. As Zephyr lands on him with his hooves knocking him unconscious, I wave to catch Ricken and Maribelle's attention. After a short moment of staring at me in disbelief as I dismount, their expressions turn to downright horrified as they stare at me. Or rather, behind me. As I take notice of the fact that a plegian snuck behind me, I feel the rush of the wind as Lon'qu's blade deflects the bandit's axe. I hesitate for a moment before smashing my lance's bladed tip into his skull, where it doesn't meet nearly any resistance. Holy fuck this weapon's amazing.

"I remember telling you that the battlefield's no place for kids." Lon'qu says, his annoyance so thick that it's almost visible on that poker face. "And I remember not giving a flying fuck." I snap at him before turning back towards the plegians. All the rage and bitterness that I felt towards the shepherds came back in full force, and damn if I don't need some plegians to direct it towards. To both my great relief and annoyance, a myrmidon and a fighter come out of the fort near us, answering my unspoken prayer. I dash towards the myrmidon, closing the gap between up as he tries to go in with a Iai technique that promptly meets my side. As he's went rather deep with his swords, I bash his face with my shield until he stops gripping his sword, that sadly remains in my side thanks to the jagged edge. I go in with a kick in the chest and he's out for the count. I honestly would like to kill the least amount possible of them, but I won't disillusion myself in thinking that I can fight in a war without killing people. But still. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst and all that. I turned to Lon'qu who was just done skewering a dark mage and a bandit, since for now the coast was clear in the fort we were stationed in.

"So, what's the plan Mr. I-hate-children?" I asked with an annoyed expression. "Robin told me to hold this fort and make sure that no enemies get this point." He replied, sheating his katana (killing edge? I have no idea) while not paying me any attention. I scowled and turned towards one of the four openings that the fort had, but as I did that I felt a rush of air and realised that I was no longer there. Instead, I was in the air again, looking north as a wyvern rider started circling around our location before engaging in an aerial brawl with Sumia, who avoided him with mastery by diving before going upwards and spearing the wyvern in the wing, causing it to fall to the ground and roll off the cliff towards us. Sadly, the rider was still alive and somehow awake, so Sumia had to go down to the ground to finish him off.

I looked at the rest of our squad while I try to ignore the slew of insults I receive from Maribelle for being so careless, and I see that Chrom was doing a fantastic job at following up the disruption caused by the two horsemen (Frederick, and Sully) entering and exiting continuously the enemy ranks and quickly making them into mincemeat. Lissa was working furiously on a wound Stahl had gotten himself not too far away from us, looking paler than yesterday. I saw Kellam just standing there while a mage inside a fort wondered why he couldn't fit through the door, before he simply punched him in the face with a clean knockout. Maribelle had dropped to the ground so that she could better heal me and was getting done with the wound, Ricken provided ground support, and Sumia was currently applying some vulnerary to her bleeding side.

"Oi, if you wanna stay here it's fine, but I'm heading out to help the others." I said, to which I received only a turned nose. Right, asshole. I rushed towards the others as the enemy commander blew a whistle and five wyvern riders popped out of the forts. Shit. "Marth, Roy, Assist me!" I shouted. I felt the gut wrenching sensation I felt the first time, and boy was I feeling weak. I must've been more drained than I thought before. As they rushed at Chrom's side, I was holding onto my lance for support while trying to fight the sensation of nausea as I felt my magic being tugged out of me forcefully. I focused and noticed that Marth was draining a lot more energy than Roy was. Most of it was going towards Chrom's falchion, who stopped as he noticed that his falchion started glowing. "This power…" He then turned towards the enemy boss who was currently looking very scared and like he wanted to be anywhere else entirely. Marth stood beside his descendant as they nodded to one another, and they both said " **Your end has come!** " And cut through him entirely.

I fell to my knees as the power cut from me and I had to retire Marth, but it was still enough to wrap the fightings up. Roy, together with Sumia, Chrom and Frederick finished the reimaining men and the rest retreated together with Gangrel. "Note to self… never, never use Marth in the presence of a Falchion user…" I said. I was not quite passing out, but my head was spinning and I really felt like my stomach wanted desperately to empty itself. I closed my eyes, and an indefinite amount of time passed before I felt a presence kneel before me. I opened my eyes to see it was Robin, whom I hadn't seen for the whole battle. Was he in the back giving orders?

"Heya." I said. He offered a hand to pull me to my feet. "Hey yourself." He said. "How are the others?" I asked. "Well…" and then he started recounting the others' status. To put it simply, Sumia was injured in the side from a scuffle with a wyvern rider who had nearly gotten her arm, Maribelle had simple motion sickness and said that she hated pegasi, my pride was wounded because I had made a big deal out of the starting units and severely underestimated Lon'qu's ability to close the gap between the Shepherds and ourselves, and both Ricken and Lissa were down with exhaustion, one from having ran from Ylisstol all the way here (I had to facepalm at this point, and the sentiment was reciprocated from him) and the other from healing too much despite her being already exhausted from the day before. Overall, we had gotten off pretty much scott free.

"Also, you're not being chewed out by Chrom just because he did not explicitly tell you not to come, even though that was the initial intention. That, and because he's too busy, what with speaking with the friend you brought with you and chewing out his sister and Ricken." Robin said casually. I sighed. "Yeah… by the way, do you have any idea WHY exactly everyone's being a fucking weirdo? I'm getting tired of their attitude." Night was drawing near, and everyone was setting camp. I had no idea how to do it anyways, so I wasn't. Not that I had brought anything with me. I'd probably rather be sleeping under the sky, anyways. While it sucks anyways, with all the ground crawlers and stuff, there'd probably be no rains (there weren't in the game anyways) and the only time I tried a tent I was having a claustrophobic attack. So yeah, no thanks.

As I focused on Robin again, I noticed that he was regarding me with an unreadable expression, carefully measuring his words, before he said "Did nobody tell you?" At the shake of my head, he continued with "Well… the divination said you would die at the hands of the Plegians. I guess nobody simply wanted to give you the bad news." I stared at Robin, my eyes shooting wide open. That made so much sense! Lissa crying on me despite never having been friends with me, all the shepherds avoiding me, Sumia not wanting me to go out, Lon'qu telling me to give up fighting… wait, that might've just been him being a dick, but the rest fit! And Lucina wasn't affected by this because she firmly believes that fate can be changed! Now I get it! But still…

"Well, that's a damn shame." I said to Robin, shrugging. "That's all? Your death got announced and all you're gonna say is "Well, that's a damn shame"?!" Robin shouts, looking like he wants to pull his hair out.

"Somewhere in the future I die, big deal. That kinda comes with the profession. We'll just have to plan in advance, right?" I said to Robin. I saw the gears in his head visibly turning before he snapped his fingers. "Right! Of course! How did this never occur to me!" before he storms off to make his tent while he mutters unintelligibly.

Well…

Now what? Everyone's putting down tents and stuff. Should I help someone? Nah. Everyone seems busy enough without me bothering them. I'm not naïve enough to think that I might actually be of some help, what with not knowing how to make a tent. I close my eyes, focusing on the mana thread that is currently still eating away at my mana, but not fast enough that I cannot replenish it if I don't do strenuous magical work. I follow it up to Chrom's tent, where I hear him basically making a basic bitch out of both Ricken and Lissa.

"How could you be so reckless, Ricken! You rushed behind enemy lines, unguarded! Imagine what would've happened if Nick and Lon'qu weren't there!" I snorted. Probably then it would be the canon 1st time. But I digress.

"Chrom aren't you maybe being a bit too harsh…?" Lissa quietly said, trying to appease her brother. "Oh, don't try to excuse him Lissa, you're at fault as well here!" Chrom barked. "In the condition you were in you shouldn't have come with us to begin with, let alone walk the battlefield!" While Chrom continues to chew out Lissa, I see Ricken quietly sneak out of the tent. "Sup." I say as I raise a hand in a greeting gesture before trying (and failing) to return them to my pockets, so I let them limp weirdly to the ground. He jumps in the air before looking at me with a pitying expression. "H-hello." He says. I sigh. "Relax, dude, I already know about my death sentence. But why should I, and most importantly, you, stress over it when something can be done instead?" He stares at me curiously for a second before sighing "You're right. Everyone's been taking this a bit out of hand. We all know that death is a possibility in our job, but…"

I place a hand on his shoulder. Which looks rather awkward because I'm slightly shorter than him, sitting at 5'2 to his 5'3 with the hat. But nevertheless. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna die. Now, how about we introduct ourselves properly?" I grin at him as he realizes that he doesn't even know my name.

I extend my hand towards him "My name's Nicholas, but you can call me Nick. Everyone does anyways." He takes my hand and shakes it. "Ricken."

And I've gone and made myself a new friend. Great. What will happen when (if) I go back to my old world? I'm basically dead to it. And even if I had a way to go, would I? I'm not even talking about the fight in the mind between these guys and my family, because if I could I would choose the latter in a heartbeat. Nothing would beat having my brother here. But…

Here I have mana. To put it simply, this shit is addictive. Aside from the simple knowledge that I can flip off the laws of physics (that's what magic is all about) this thing is allowing me to pull off inhuman feats of strength, speed and brain processing. I'm basically being made into a superman from the little that I had. So, if I went back home, would I have mana? Could I feel the comforting presence of it under my skin, protecting me against sickness and enemy magic? Would I be able to sense other people's presences around me? My world doesn't have mana. What if I experience withdrawal from it? For all I know, I could die a painful death if I step into a world that drains me of my mana. Yeah. It's best to stay here. Even if I can never meet my family ever again…

I hadn't even realized I started crying before Ricken placed a hand on my shoulder the same way I did before. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad if I just ignored everything. Yeah. Fake it till you make it, right?

I end up unconsciously severing the mana link from Roy as we head back for dinner. Since it was a hard battle (not in my opinion) we had Stahl cooking for us. At least I had something to look forward to.

* * *

After we conquered this position and enemies would no longer be able to pour into Ylisse, and after generic looking mooks came to take our place in defending the place, we decided to head back to Ylisstol acting as Emmeryn's guard, since the battlefield was no place for Emmeryn.

Lissa had gotten better and no longer looked like a stiff breeze could make her keel over, and after Robin talked some sense into the Shepherds (it was actually pretty awkward as I was standing off to the side and Robin pretty much forced the spotlight on me as he said that we were gonna change the future and Lucina started clapping while everyone else was just awkwardly saying sorry and stuff) she actually came up to me and told me that she was going to do anything in her power to prevent my death, and for anything I needed to count on her. I was like "Okay, sure" and that was that.

After my relations with the shepherds pretty much returned to the status quo (where I would occasionally hang with either Kellam, Sumia, occasionally Vaike and now Ricken while continuing "Magic 101 with Miriel" where Ricken would occasionally chime in and simplify some of the concepts on the fine art of telling reality to go screw itself) I was neared by Chrom and asked just what the hell was that with Roy and Marth, and I told them that I had become a summoner. And well… It's better if you see for yourself.

"Well… uhm…" I said to the entirety of the shepherds in the dining hall. Even Miriel had decided to dine with us since I had announced my grand reveal of the three entities.

Everyone was staring at me expectantly. Even Frederick and Lon'qu, who were doing their very best at looking uninterested, couldn't help but look. I sighed, before deciding 'Fuck it'. "You know what? It's best if I let them introduce themselves. Although, one by one, since I've learned that it's too draining to summon twice at once." I chuckled awkwardly as a book came sailing very close to my head while Miriel looked around innocently, even going as far as whistling. "So everyone, this is the other Einherjar that you haven't met, Hauteclere!" and then she came out of my pocket and next to me. She took a look at everyone before sighing and whispering "what have you gotten yourself into?" and I whispered back "Please play along." I chuckled awkwardly once again.

She sighed, before saying "So. I'm Hauteclere. 2034 years old. Probably the best blacksmith you have ever met and will ever meet." I had to use all of my willpower to keep myself from facepalming. Surprisingly though, Frederick strode onwards with a smug look on his face before saying "Really? Would you say that you can make a better weapon than the Falchion that milord has in his hands right now?" Oh Frederick. You don't know what you're talking about. She simply regarded him with an annoyed expression before saying "Already did. That piece of work that the kid is wearing and his lance already are better than that butter knife." Somehow I doubt that, but somehow, I don't. I have no idea if my lance is better than Falchion, since I don't know how strong Truesteel is when compared to Naga's fang. It sure is a lot less magic. Neverthless, "Nonsense! The divine Falchion was made from the fangs of Naga itself! Nothing can resist its power!"

The only thing that Hauteclere did however was snort and take the shield from me. "Well then. Want a demonstration? Come on blue, try to destroy this thing." Oh come on, now that was just unfair. Maybe the awakened Falchion would've had a chance, but this? This was just an exercise in futility.

Chrom got up and started hitting with Falchion the shield, who started glowing to try and withstand its power, and after a while he somersaulted back ("Showoff" I muttered under my breath) before shouting "Luna!" and dashing towards Hauteclere. The results were… Interesting. To be fair, the shield DID halt Chrom's momentum and didn't have a scratch on it.

On the other hand, Hauteclere herself…

"Shitbiscuits!" She shouted as she clutched her now broken arm and let the shield drop to the ground. "I'll hand it to ya blue, you're strong. Damn… this hurts like a bitch. Gonna go ahead and dismiss myself, kay?" and then she was gone. The room was silent as the only sound present was Stahl scarfing down the now 4th portion of food while everyone was wide eyed and looking at me.

"*cough cough* Riiight… for our second guest, Roy, the prince of Pherae!" I summoned him. I felt the familiar tug as the Einherjar invited himself over in our realm. Since she didn't get the chance earlier, Miriel jumped from her seat to go and analyze him. "Interesting… while being channelled through the card you make a mana construct capable of sentience… this is truly an amazing spell." She said, fixing the glasses on her nose before being pulled back by Ricken whom I gave a grateful nod towards.

"Hello. I am Roy, prince of Pherae." The whole place was mute. "Well? You asked for me to summon him, what do you want?!" I ground out. I was getting annoyed. They're using MY mana and wasting MY time here! Thankfully, Ricken decided to speak up. "How are you capable of remaining alive?" He asked Roy. I guess he was just being treated as a generic Einherjar since nobody here knew about Elibe. Luckily, he took no offense in it, and with a smile began explaining "Part of our spirit has been sealed away in the cards when we died, and we rely on our summoner's life force so that we may stay alive for however long it takes for us to do our tasks. Sadly, we are but shadows of our original selves."

Robin's question came next – "Do you retain your own will or are you forced to work for your master regardless of what they ask of you?" And woah Robin why are you glaring at me I did nothing wrong wow

"While we follow our master's orders, we will never do something that goes against our moral code. For example, unless attacked I would never harm Lilina, or any innocent to begin with." That explains his hesitation in the battle. It sadly cost him his life, but whatever. Robin gave a satisfied hum and sit back down. Did he think I actually used the Einherjars as slaves? I'm wounded.

"How did Nick get access to you?" Chrom asked. I guess he was worried about potential allies in battle, what with us being in a war.

"Well, it was a mere coincidence. An evil sorcerer named Aversa" here Chrom and Maribelle's faces turned angry, remembering the _bitch_ that pretty much just started a war "Stole us Einherjar from our former guardian, and scattered us all around the world. I have no idea where the others are, but you may meet them randomly. The most of us are, however, unaware of our condition and believe to be real people." He finished with a frown.

"Any other questions?" I asked. When it turned to be negative, I simply decided to dismiss Roy. I felt the mana come back to me, before bellowing in a much higher voice "And now, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you were all waiting for! The cremè de la crop, the real star, or should I say _lode_ star? Prince Marth of Altea!" And after setting out all that hype, of course something had to go wrong. Namely, the fact that I had somehow managed to forget that summoning Marth in the presence of Chrom was _not_ a good idea, so I keeled over as the blue headed prince started taking out ten times the mana he usually needed, just to channel it into Falchion, who transformed again in its temporary Awakened (roll credits) form. "G-go on. Ask a-a-away." I stammered out before dropping to the floor clutching my head. Lissa was rushing towards me, but I stretched out a hand and said "I'm fine. J-just make it quick, mkay?" I said. Then the magical burden lightened by a lot, and even though it still felt heavier than Roy's or Hauteclere, I still couldn't quite stand up without hurling, but it was better. I noticed Marth had dismissed his Falchion and was simply standing there.

After confirming that I was fine, Lucina went into fangirl mode. "Are you the real hero king? What did princess Caeda look like? May I see the Falchion? How did it change over the years? Can you autograph my sword?" All in one breath. I had noticed that Lucina felt a lot less "Bound by duty" than her canon self, and I wondered if it was because she didn't have to take a commanding position. It would certainly explain why she's so… Hyper, right now. Chrom and Lissa were too stunned to talk, while everyone else was muttering between themselves. However, one presence beat them all.

"Forgive the sudden entrance. It was not my intention to interrupt this moment, but perhaps a family reunion is in order?" The exalt herself said from the doorway. Still graceful as ever, walking towards where Marth was. Her aura of simple peace of mind and making people feel _safe_ was downright intoxicating and I had to consciously fight to keep myself from falling asleep then and there from a mix of the aura and exhaustion caused by my summons. "I believe I've never had the pleasure of meeting you personally Your Grace. I would bow down, but yknow." I stared down at my body to get my point across. To be fair, all she did was chuckle at my lack of respect while everyone else was gaping. I'm experiencing mana withdrawal though, so I'm excused. Suck it up Freddie. At least emptying my magical tank like this, nearly every day is doing miracles for my coils. Now I could probably cast a basic wind spell without causing internal bleeding. Yay.

"If possible, Mr. Nick, may I borrow the card? I feel like there's so much that can be learned from the past." Emmeryn asked. I made a gesture of awkwardly shrugging because of my position on the ground, "If he's okay with it." I turned questioningly towards Marth, who simply nodded in response. "Eh, sure." I withdrew Marth who came back to my hand before getting up and handing him to Emmeryn. "Your Grace, if I may pass out now?" I asked. She simply regarded me with a curious expression.

"G'night everyone…" I said as I passed out. My days seemed to be filled with a lot of that lately.

 **Woo! 10k worth of words in one update! I'm gonna go ahead and pass out myself. (jk) So, we got chapter 5 out of the way, and even though the fight might be disappointing, keep track of the fact that I cannot play Lunatic for shiet so I can't quite measure enemy strength. I played on hard, and the enemies were easy as pie here. Things DO get a lot harder by the time the Walhart arc kicks in, so my story's gonna follow that. Fights won't be anticlimactic, but yknow. Can't lie to myself (or to you) and say the game was hard at this point. I get the feeling that the plegian army was simply enrolling random men, because I have NO DOUBT that they couldn't have trained soldiers like Ylisse does after the whole razing to the ground. Most of the reason the Plegia war dragged out was because Gangrel is a devil with a silver tongue, making people think that he's fighting the good fight and all. I have no doubt that some of the reason the war stopped was because of Emmeryn, but truly, it's like cutting a snake's head. They killed Gangrel, and the Plegian had no one to follow anymore. Emmeryn simply planted the seed of doubt, and she coulda done that alive no prob.**

 **Also, for all of you Donnel fans out there, I'm really sorry to disappoint but he's not gonna play a great part in this war. While I don't doubt that his growth is immense, it's just unreasonable and an insult to storywriting that I can just pick a farmer off the ground and turn him into a man killing machine in less than a month. (*coff coff* Hypocrite *coff coff*) We are tough gonna see a lot of him in the Walhart arc, so don't worry! I won't forget about him.**

 **That's all for these author notes, here's the updated stats, toodles!**

 **Ninni51, out.** *drops mic*

Nick

Lv 13 Exp 06

Class: Soldier

Hp: 12/27 65%

Str: 14 50%

Mag:13 55%

Skl: 15 60%

Spd: 17 60%

Lck: 8 45%

Def: 9 (+5) 30%

Res: 19 (+5) 65%

Skills:

-Riposte

-Toss

Items:

Uruz Mt 19 Hit 80 Rng 1 Crit 5% Skill Miracle+

Algiz Mt 8 Hit 65 Rng 1-2 Crit 0% +5 Def +5 Res when unequipped

Supports:

Miriel: B

Kellam: C

Marth: C

Roy: C

Ricken: C

Marth

Lodestar, Lv 18 Exp 00

Hp: 34

Str: 17

Mag: 3

Skl: 25

Spd: 23 60%

Lck: 23 70%

Def: 15 35%

Res: 11 20%

Skills:

-Gentle Blade

-Charm

Inventory:

-Phantom Falchion: Mt 8 Hit 85% Effective againt dragons. Holds only a fraction of its original power.

Supports:

Caeda: S

Nick: C

Roy

Lv 12 Exp 34

Class: Mercenary

Hp: 30 85%

Str: 14 55%

Mag:1 35%

Skl: 15 70%

Spd: 14 55%

Lck: 7 55%

Def: 8(+2) 40%

Res: 9 25%

Skills:

-Dual Strike+

-Aegis

-Patience

Inventory:

Roy's Blade: Mt 10 34/40 Hit 90% Bonus +2 to Defense

Vulnerary 3/3

Supports:

Nick: C

Lilina: S


	12. Chapter 11x

**Since y'all are naughty people who just WON'T post reviews unless I explicitly say so every F-ing chapter and I am in dire need of constructive criticism, Read and Review *glares aggressively***

 **Also, I've noticed that chapter 12 had less views than chapter 13, which left me... confused. Do people just skip to the last chapter updated or something? I usually make 150-200 views a chapter (I'm shocked that so many people enjoy my garbage writing), but that one received a measly 74. Should I not upload two chapters in a row again? I have no idea.**

 **Kidemonas: It's been lost across space and time and is now sitting in between countless miswritings. Rest assured, my friend, however, that the symbol of friendship with the redhead is not lost forever! I will redeem myself of the heinous act post haste!**

 **Chapter 13- Interlude: Daydreams and Nightmares**

Nick had passed out. Again.

Lucina wasn't even shocked by now. Nobody was, really. After that little show and tell, everyone simply resumed eating without a care in the world, save for the royal family who was chatting between themselves after Lissa checked that he hadn't knocked his head into something. She really wanted to join them, but she knew that her cover would be blown if that was the case. Anyways, Nick was passing out a lot more than a normal person would, what with always bringing himself to the point of exhaustion just for the sake of others. It wasn't a rare occurrence in her timeline either. A lot of times Brady or Rose would have to put him to sleep using a staff. While Brady would use a sleep staff (which would've been a shame in using, if it wasn't for the fact that it didn't really work on Risen) Rose had a more… direct approach. The bumps in the back of his head were growing countless.

As she strode down the canteen so that she could go and put him into a bed, she looked at the gathering that was taking place in front of her. She'll admit that she had gone a little… overboard, on Marth; but it was such a rare occasion when she could meet him outside of a battlefield that she wasn't gonna miss the chance. Sadly, however, Aunt Emm had to butt in. Not that she was wrong, mind you, but she just wanted a moment alone with him! Was that too much to ask?

Nevertheless, she bent down and picked him up. He was light as a doll; the signs of malnourishment from his recent mission in the Outrealms were clear. Sadly, this wasn't the Nick she knew, so she couldn't start thwacking him on the back of the head without having eyebrows raised… unless she grew close to him. That, sadly, still hadn't occurred, with him being always occupied with something or the other, when he wasn't lying down in a bed. But one of these days she was gonna have her chance!

To be honest, she felt a little sad for Belle. The girl was probably gonna be jealous as hell for not having the chance to see what her father was like when he was younger. None of them expected him to be quite so young (and short) but she adjusted fairly easily, although it surely was gonna be a fun surprise for the others.

As she started heading towards his quarters, she got to thinking. They had about two days to prepare for the assassination attempt on her aunt, and she still quite had no idea how she would make it. She didn't know the exact day it would be on, but she was sure assassins would come. She still hadn't changed enough of the timeline to warrant any particular changes, so she would simply have to be in two places at once. She had to be there to protect Aunt Emmeryn, and she had to be there to protect Father. She obviously couldn't tell anybody of the incoming assassination attempt, they would either take her for crazy or she would be locked down for treason. Both were, to say the least, undesirable choices. So how? How?

"You gonna open the door or we just gon be pacing in front of my door? It's been 5 mins already." The boy in her arms asked. She shrieked and flung him away, causing him to roll on the floor before coming to a halt against a wall.

" _Damn Lucy_ , remember me never to sneak up on you." He said while picking himself up. But that phrase struck something in her.

 _After both her father had died she had cried herself out, until the council had decided that the unification of the countries of Plegia and Ylisse was the safest thing to do to face the threat that Walhart represented. Under the rule of King Nicholas, they had actually managed to stipulate an accord between the kingdom of New Ylisse and Valm. She was the last in line for the throne, and seeing her rightful place stolen from her angered no little amount. But she was reassured that, when she came of age, the throne was going to be hers as the last and rightful heir of the Falchion along with her little sister Severa. She thought the worst of the man that had unrightfully usurped her father's throne and it didn't help that he always looked so damn lazy and Plegian. But over the years she had to grudgingly admit that, despite her little knowledge of politics, he was doing a good job as a king, as none of the villages were in unrest. And so, they came to a grudging (at least on her side, because at hearing that the heir finally accepted him he lit up like Nagamas had just come) friendship. He promised to train her in the art of the sword just as he did with her sister (little traitor) and his own daughter, and so, they were here._

" _Take me seriously!" She shrieked at the top of her lungs, before charging towards the man once again as he dodged and dodged and dodged yet again. It was obvious that he was toying with her, dodging without striking back aside from making her trip or parrying slightly with his open hand._

 _She reared back and, despite after being told otherwise-_

" _Damn Lucy, do you have to hit so hard?" The king of Plegia, Nick had lazily asked after being hit, flicking her in the forehead with a finger. She had gotten mad that he refused to take her seriously, and put all of herself in that one strike. As it was, the strength of a 10-year-old wasn't impressive enough to do much of anything aside from a slight bruise on the leg, but it was still an achievement. She was smug for weeks, which resulted in the king training her into the ground. Eventually, he grew on her._

"I-I" She stammered out, unable to respond as the figure in front of her blended with the man she knew. After Rose came telling them that he had died, they all were obviously saddened, but not quite like Belle. The girl had taken to staring into the horizon, thinking about her father, occasionally breaking the cheerful façade that she put on.

"Hey, you ok?" He asked, frowning.

"Yes, I… I have to leave." And she dashed to her quarters.

* * *

Lissa used to think that, if she really wanted to, she could nap anywhere and at any time. But these days were putting her skills through a real test, if she did say so herself. She knew that fate wasn't something that was decided just yet, and the vision could actually help prevent the events that happened in it. Robin hade made quite sure that nobody forgot that lesson. And yet, everytime she managed to get an ounce of sleep the same visions haunted her every night. Despite their best efforts, they couldn't prevent Maribelle's kidnapping, and she knew that even if Maribelle was putting on a brave face they had done something that changed her. She was jumpier, peeking at every corner (if in a very dignified way) to make sure that no one would surprise her, and quite literally jumping in the air when someone still managed to. She had even started taking lessons in magic from Miriel, something that she never expressed interest in. If the knowledge of what would happen in the future still wasn't enough, what would be?

 _The mansion that Maribelle's family resided in coated in blood, not a single of the residents or servants left alive as the bandits bring her out while she's screaming and trashing_

She wouldn't admit it, but Nick wasn't her only concern right now. Despite him being a fellow shepherd and a… friend? Not quite, but a friendly acquaintance, she wouldn't be stressing all that much over him. She had long since come to terms that sometimes people wouldn't come back from the wars, and that was the reality of life. She would cry, sure, but he just wasn't her main concern right now. And Chrom was already working on keeping him away from the front lines, despite his recent acts of rashness and lack of self-conscience about his health.

 _Nick standing on top of a giant dragon's head, hand outstretched towards the ground as he can do nothing but look as the archers ready their arrows. His expression turns peaceful as his fate is clear, and he becomes like a sick representation of a maid's pincushion from all the arrows the Risen have fired towards him._

Clearing her head of the image, she frowns. What she was stressing about and that she wouldn't ever admit to someone else, because that would imply that it's something that might happen, but she's worried sick about her dear sister. Through Nick's eyes she saw what can be her fate, but she just can't accept it. How could she? She saw her sister die in the plegian territory, and herself just standing there watching.

 _Emmeryn, seeing as Chrom's at an impasse about whether to give the Fire emblem or accept his sister's death, takes the decision from him and leaps with one last message to the world. Her body, still graceful as ever, goes limp as she plummets to her demise. In her last moments of consciousness, she smiles at Lissa. It's a haunting smile that she would never forget for the rest of her life._

"Gah! It's useless!" She jumps out of her bed as she just can't catch some sleep. She rushes off to the closest balcony to find that she's apparently not the only one that can't sleep.

"Lissa! Darling!" Maribelle rushed over from her perched spot on the balcony to Lissa. "How are you feeling? Do you require anything?"

"Ah… I'm… fine." Lissa replied, a little uneasy from the sudden attention.

"Nonsense darling! I have seen the horrible bags under your eyes. Why don't we come to my room and you can tell me what nightmares afflict you over a cup of tea? I'll make citrus, your favorite!" Maribelle, as always, knew just what to say.

"A cup of tea DOES sound good…" she considered, although she had no idea that citrus was her favorite. It would do no good to try to go back to sleep anyways, and since her friend was still awake as well…

"Let's be off then! I'm sure you have quite the story to tell." Lissa pretended not to see the nervous glances her friend threw over her shoulder. Everything would be fine. Right?

"Say… could you please teach me how to use a Rescue staff? I saw you the other day…"

* * *

Robin had to make many decisions on the fly in his short but intense career as the Shepherds' tactician. Most of them were right. He didn't think he couldn't fair or anything, but so far everything had been working smoothly.

But this was not a decision that he could take so easily. This was probably the most important decision in his life.

He, of course, knew of the little ball of trouble that was the first person to consider him a friend since waking up. He felt a lot closer to Chrom, but… their dynamic was weird. Most of the shepherds treated him like he was a celebrity, someone to look up to. He was one of the few that looked at him and saw just 'Robin'. It was nice.

It also helped that he took a lot of the heat of Frederick's mistrust off of just his back, even though he would never say that out loud.

But what did any of this have to do with his current plight, you might ask.

Well, being the tactician for the army meant that he knew just about everything that people did. It was a lot of work, but he was nothing if not zealous.

So when he came to know that his friend had temporarily lost his memory and then regained it, he should've been happy that maybe whatever worked could do the job for him as well. But a few issues came to mind…

Frederick had warned him that his favorite coat would bring him a lot of trouble if seen in public. When asked why, he had told him that was the mark of the Grimleal, an ancient religious cult that worshipped the dark dragon Grima. Despite that, it was hard to separate from the only piece of his past. The tome and blade that he had were long gone by now, broken under the constant usage. And they were simply tools, means to an end that held no sentimental value. The coat felt different. It felt safe and warm, and he rarely took it off.

Despite everything though, it was also a grim reminder that whoever he used to be would be up to no good. And that scared him. He knew himself as Robin, tactician of the Shepherds. But beyond that? He didn't know who 'Robin' truly was, for all he knew he could've been a murderer, or a bandit, or anything really. He wanted to know! But he was also scared. Because what if the truth then set him up against the Shepherds? It would never be the same.

So he was at an impasse. Be the tactician of the Shepherds, or find out who he was? He truly didn't know. The question gnawed at the back of his mind, haunting his sleep, but another part said that he's better off like this and it would get worse if he remembered.

And the voice that talked to him in his sleep…

 _Robin, join me… become one with me, and crush these useless mortal bugs…_

Join who?! What is it even talking about?

And yet… he can't help but feel himself drawn to this power… maybe…

"Robin? You in there?" Chrom's voice called out. "Ah, y-yes!" He scrambled to make himself look like he was working. Being a tactician held a surprisingly huge amount of studying and paperwork. Lately he had been studying the tales of an Archanean tactician, whose name had sadly been lost to history but he seemed to go by the pen name of "Mangs". His strategies were successful, but for the love of him Robin couldn't understand how they worked. They relied mostly on surprisingly efficient gambles, with a whole chapter of the book dedicated just to his incredible usage of the "Devil Axe". Maybe Robin should try to take more risks? No, that doesn't like a good idea…

Chrom opened the door, finding him in a cross legged position on his seat, studying.

"You know, you've been studying a lot lately. Don't you ever need a break? We're back in Ylisstol now. And we won't be leaving for Ferox for at least two weeks."

Robin ran a hand across his face, rubbing his eyes. "I know. It's just… with everything that's been going on, I can't help but think that I need to do MORE. It's just… I have a bad feeling about this war." He groaned. Despite not being old (not that he knew exactly what his age was, what with his amnesia and having white hair), his bones creaked as he got up after 5 hours straight of being sat down.

"Gods, Robin! Come on, you have to go take a walk. It's not healthy to stay all day in your room." He rolled his eyes, even though he felt grateful about Chrom caring for him.

"Yeah, yeah mom. I'm coming." Despite everything, a smile came to his face. Who needed some voice in the void when he had friends like Chrom in the shepherds?

* * *

Ugh… My head. I feel like I've had the worst hangover in my life, despite never having drunk. I got up though. Sadly, I had to go to school, despite it being pointless already. I looked to the side, and noticed that the bed to my side was empty and undone. Huh, so Francis had already gotten up. Mom's probably gonna start screaming at me if I don't do so as well. ***rumble*** And I'm hungry.

I started to dress up, picking my favorite shirt, the one with green eyes on it, representing Toothless' eyes from How to Train your Dragon. God, I loved that movie and its sequel. Along with it went a pair of sweatpants, because fuck if someone can convince me to start wearing jeans. HELL NAW. Along with them went my 3 years old sneakers, who were by now to the brink of being destroyed and giving up on my feet, but until then I would wear them. They're the only shoes that I feel comfortable in, for now.

I started heading towards the kitchen, for some cereals and milk. On my way there, I noticed in the corridor that the bathroom door was locked. And since Trudy (my dog) hasn't come to greet me already, she probably taking her for a walk, so I'm almost sure that it's my brother in the bathroom. "Hi, Fra'!" "Hi, Ni'!" he greeted back behind the locked door. I continued towards the kitchen, grabbing the milk and putting it in the bowl. I know some people prefer to do cereal first, but if I put cereal in the microwave it becomes all mushy and it sucks.

I added the sugar and started spinning it with a spoon, before removing it and putting the bowl in the microwave, set at one minute. While I was waiting for that, I looked down at my phone, and noticed that it was not picking up any signal. What the hell? You can't do this to me! I need my daily dose of memes!

The familiar beep of the microwave took me out of my misery, and as I grabbed my bowl, I heard a voice sound out from behind me. It sounded like someone in their middle age, and was filled with sorrow. "Why didn't you save me?" she asked. I turned around and realized that it was Donnel's mother. "Without you, none of that would've ever happened!" She screamed. I was startled into dropping my bowl, the scalding milk dropping right in the middle of my chest as the bowl crashed down onto the ground. However, when I looked, there was nothing but the fragments and milk, the old lady vanished.

My brother decided that moment to come into the kitchen. His normally happy expression was replaced with a sneering one as soon as he saw me. He was slightly taller than me, but not by much, even though he had four years more. His blue eyes were cold, lips set into a thin frown and his brown hair messed up, as if he had just gotten out of bed. "Ah, another blunder?" He asked with so much venom in his voice that I didn't even think it possible. "I don't even know why I should be surprised. You've been having a lot of those lately, haven't you?"

"What?! I just- I just- "

"Let me see… you failed our family with the school." I felt a pang of guilt strike me in the heart.

"Failed me and mom when you left us." I felt the pain of the arrow that had struck me in the forearm before it faded away.

"I didn't mean to-"

"Left your niece, _my daughter_ all by herself when you saw that she needed help." Besides him appeared said pinkette, looking accusative as well.

"I-I" I stammered out, but he just continued.

"You literally failed yourself when you've tried to use a divination" I felt my mind burning in pain for a second, before fading away as well. My own reflection appeared as well, wearing the same accusative face.

"That was not my-"

"Failed Donnel and his entire village by killing that bandit when he attacked you" Donnel and his mother appeared as well. A wave of nausea hit me, reminding me of the time I spent poisoned. It left quickly as it came, however.

"Failed Lissa when you didn't understand why she was upset" the Ylissean princess came out of nowhere as well, looking angry and distressed. I temporarily felt the burns of the ropes on my wrists, before returning to normal as well.

"Failed the Shepherds when you were so stupid that you couldn't get the message that you just had to STAY. AWAY." They all appeared, frowning at me with Chrom looking the most disappointed and shaking his head. The jagged blade that had buried itself in my side not even a week ago made itself remembered for a few seconds. By now I was gasping for breath with tears in my eyes from both the pain and my brother's words.

"Face it, you're a failure." He spat out with so much venom that it hurt. "Why don't you just kick the bucket?" He sneered. I gasped as I heard those words. M-my brother wishes me dead as well…?

"Ah, right. You couldn't even do that properly." A knife materialized in my brother's hands as I was now suddenly aware of a gaping hole in my chest, both metaphorically and literally.

"Here, let me help." And then he rushed at me, burying the knife in my chest where the hole already was. I couldn't move, just stare at him as he used the knife and slammed me to the ground using it. An hysterical part of my mind helpfully supplied that this was the hornet ring parry animation from Dark souls 3. The pain was unbearable.

"AAAAAAAAAH!" I screamed as I sat up in my bed. I looked outside the window and realized that it was already night, and I was back at the Sheperds' garrison. I pulled down my shirt and looked at my chest. There was nothing there, aside from the scar, right on the heart's side that reminded me of how I came to this place.

"It was… just a dream. Only a dream. Only a dream. Only a dream…" I curled up in a ball and started repeating said mantra, holding onto it for dear life. "Fake it till you make it, heh?..." I asked nobody in particular. "I thought I was over this… but I guess that I don't stop being a failure just because I'm in a different world…" The logical part of my mind screamed that I was not that useless, but I couldn't for the love of me remember a time where I have done something good for someone. On that grim note, I let sandman carry me once again to his realm, hoping that I could catch some zzz's before needing to go back to my life once again.

 **Aaaand we're done! Slightly shorter chapter because I couldn't find any other character to really make have a nightmare. I'm gonna go ahead and let you know that I'll be rewriting chapter 1 to 4 because they feel unsatisfying to me (I wrote them in just a few hours, writing both 1 and 2 the same day) because the first impressions matter! I want to trick any new viewer into thinking that I actually have decent content you see :***

 **Ninni51, out** *drops mic*


	13. Chapter 12

**Warning: Heavy (un)justified Lucina bashing. If you get triggered easily, well, sucks to be you. Also, if you hadn't guessed before, Lucina is going to be OOC for obvious reasons.**

 **Also, read and review. Pretty please.**

 **itsLALM: Thanks for the pointer! I'll try to make the change of POV more clear later on. Also, I've added line breaks to the previous chapter to help. I thought I already had, but for some reason cancels the line breaks from word :l**

 **Kidemonas: Here you go, my friend! I've explained the "illness" afflicting our MC. I thought I already had, to be honest, but rereading the story I suppose I could've been clearer. Cheers!**

 **Chapter 14: Boss fight? Hell naw!**

I stared at my usual room where I was used by now to waking up despite going to "sleep" somewhere different. It was routine by now, really. Start the day, do magic stuff, do it too much, pass out, repeat ad infinitum. After the first times of feeling sluggish and drunken I had taken a liking to the feeling of being tired. It helped me not think, which was appreciable.

However, nice things had to come to an end, and after a while of simply staring at the ceiling and not being able to go back to sleep, I grudgingly marched out of bed and put on my armor and grab my diary, heading towards the canteen where I hoped that there was something left.

Yesterday I had my breakdown, and I fully intended for it not to happen again. So I was gonna train, despite my mind screaming " _It doesn't matter_ " and " _You're useless_ ". I let out a shiver at remembering that night. Anyways,

After the recent events, people had stopped outright avoiding me and I shifted more to a background role, where I would make occasional chit chat with people but that was it. Which was fine by me honestly, despite my being desperate for having at least one or two people around me (whose spot was previously filled by having a Fucking Phone™) I'm not a people person AT ALL, so it all evens out in the end.

I drop by the kitchen with a "Yo", rubbing the sleep out of my eyes as Stahl hands me a plate. I have no idea what's in it since I didn't bother looking at it, but it must be good. "Thought you might want a plate left for you." He said as I turned around. "You" I stop as a massive yawn splits my jaw "You thought well."

As I go back to the dining all itself, I grab the diary that I had put on my side, open it and start adding/updating a few entries, strictly in English.

 _Lon'qu 2/10_

I honestly don't like the guy. I thought he was a decent person, but he's always dismissing me for being a child and being an overall jerk. I know I shouldn't take to heart what he says, but how can you in all honesty dismiss someone because of their age? There are both children and old men out there who can kick his ass! Sadly, I'm not one of them.

 _Lissa 5.5/10_

I guess we're cool now? No idea. Can't say we're all buddy buddy till I find at least a frog in my room or something. But at least we're on speaking terms now! That's something.

Support – C

 _Robin 8/10_

Edit: My opinion on the guy hasn't changed. He's great, he's cool and everything. I just wanted to point out how different we feel. He's someone who became a brand new person because of an accident, and is desperately looking for his past, unable to reach it because he doesn't know where it even is. I'm someone who ran away from his past because I couldn't face it, and I know exactly where it is but it lies beyond my reach. Or maybe it's just me who's unwilling to extend an arm? Just a silly thought I had.

Support – B

 _Ricken_ 8/10

He's cool! I never used him much in Awakening, and don't know much of his backstory aside from the fact that he's a noble trying to redeem his house or something. But doesn't that make him all the more interesting? I had all these people that I already knew nearly all secrets of, and he honestly feels like a breath of fresh air! I also found out that he's a fucking genius. He doesn't have much book smarts like someone like Miriel or Virion would have, but he's figured out a lot of concepts that it took me a while to grasp. We also spend a lot of time together, what with both being apprentices of Miriel and just commonly hanging out. It's nice. It almost feels like home.

Support – B

 _Lucina_ ?/10

I have no idea. Every time I talk to her we're basically both putting on a façade of normalcy and dancing around each other for answers. Maybe I should just come clean to make her do so as well? It'd be a pyrrhic victory, but a victory nonetheless.

"Hey! Watcha doing?" Lissa chimed from behind me. "Writing my diary." I replied with all the calm in the world, a feeling of smugness rising up within me. As I expected, her hands shot out to grab my diary and-

"This is all gibberish!" She shrieked. "I can barely understand a thing, and I took lessons in the ancient tongue!" I turned my smug face towards her. "My diary if you may, milady?"

She grudgingly returned it, muttering under her breath about frogs and mud buckets. After making sure that nobody was watching me again, with extreme amusement I turned the 5.5 in the entry to a 7. It was nice.

* * *

"UGH! I don't get it…" I slammed my head against one of the desks in the library. Learning another language was a fucking crazy business! I already established that whatever comes out of my mouth, unless I make a conscious effort to speak in another language, will be in Akaneian. (much to my relief) However, this does NOT fucking apply to the written language! Anything that is not in English (or the "Ancient tongue" as they call it, which can just be applied to tomes nowadays) I cannot understand! I've been taking lessons, but all I keep seeing is a bunch of weird runes and that's it! It's worse than Japanese kanji…

"Hey! Are you alright?" Ricken shouted from the other side of the room.

"No." I replied. "I'm wallowing in misery. Leave me alone." He came over to look at what I was doing, before saying "What's the problem? This looks easy. Miriel explained it a few days ago." He frowned. "I know it's supposed to be easy, but I **cannot fucking read!** " I shouted, slamming my head against the desk again. "I just want to start shooting spells and do cool stuff…" I mumbled.

He sat down next to me, his chin between index and thumb as he gained a thoughtful expression. "Well then, shouldn't you just find a really old book that you can understand?" I had let in my secret about coming from the Outrealms to Ricken, and he supplied me with an interesting theory. 'What if you came from another time instead of coming from another universe altogether? It would explain the similarities between our universes' he had said. However, interesting as it may be, however, it would be moot since my world at its core doesn't have any mana, and it was apparently present since day 1 in this world. But who knows. I just nodded and went along with it, since I obviously couldn't tell him that I knew all of their futures and they were a videogame.

"I've tried to find one, but the library accessible to the Shepherds is limited and there was nothing…" And I had. But all the books were labelled in runes, so I didn't even bother trying to look into them. Only Miriel had given me this one to practice my reading. While she is A-Okay at teaching when someone has a basis, I don't think she's ever tried to teach someone how to read. And for some reason my brain refuses to pick up any of the 52 characters in this goddamn language.

"Well then…" Ricken had gotten close to me to whisper in my ear "how about we go see the Exalt's archives?" I turned to him. "We can?!" I said, happy to be able to do something. "Shhh, keep it down! We're in a library here!" he whisper-shouted, putting his hand on my mouth. I recoiled. "We're gonna do that, yes. Are you with me?" I nodded frantically, still trying to get his hand away from me. "Good. Meet me at 7PM in front of the castle, and we'll see if we can find anything." "Alright." And then he left the library to god knows where. I took one last look at the book Miriel had handed to me before simply putting it away since I could feel a headache coming. We're wasting daylight here anyways.

I left the room with my lance in hand, looking to do SOMETHING. Ricken had already vanished to God (Naga?) knows where, I had no idea where Kellam was (because despite my ability to find him, I would have to find WHERE he is, and asking people around is a lost cause), I was already having a Miriel induced migraine so I wasn't gonna ask her, Robin… actually, I could go bother Robin. Yeah, let's do that.

I walked down the hallway, took a left, then a right and found myself in the men's sleeping quarters. From there, the 6th door was his, with first being Frederick's, second being Vaike's, third Stahl's, fourth Kellam, fifth Ricken and finally, Robin and mine. I knocked on his door, only to find it being unlocked. When I saw what was in it, a gasp of horror tore its way through my lips: Robin had been slain by the greatest enemy of humanity since writing was invented: Paperwork! "Noooooooo!" I fell to my knees, raising my hands to the sky. "Why, god, why?!" I asked nobody in particular.

The Vaike who was strolling down the hallways saw my plight, and proceeded to collapse to put a hand on my shoulder as he covered his eyes with his arm.

"We have lost him…" I said. We managed to keep that up for about two seconds, before the both of us burst into laughter which was loud enough to wake Robin up for a second, who looked around before groaning and slamming the door, which caused us to laugh even harder.

After that good silliness was done, I sadly still had nothing to do. I walked around aimlessly inside of the barracks, waiting for the time to pass when a startling conclusion came to me: Roy! I still had to check for any inconsistencies with my future knowledge! I had forgot!

I rushed into my room and closed the door behind me, before shouting "Roy's our boy!" He came out of my pocket and stared at me with an annoyed expression. "Will you quit that? I already had to hear you say that nearly EVERY time you summoned me." He grumbled. I smirked at him and said "Neverrrr" I replied. However, as I realized that with the game throwing all timing out of the window the assassination attempt may even be this very night! "Roy, is the assassination attempt this very night?"

"Dunno."

"Ah, ok." Well, there's that. "Actually, why don't you know it?" I asked. It was important to know when I have to sleep with an eye open or two.

"*shrug* We weren't there with the Shepherds, remember? I have no idea."

"Ah… right… Actually, wait, what?!" This was news to me. I thought I would've left the plegian army after the Maribelle kidnapping attempt! What the hell?

"Hold on a diddly darn second, how long did I stay in the plegian army?!" I asked, bewildered shaking him by the shoulders.

"Wait, you're telling me that you don't know how it goes? I was sure that the other you would tell you… Well-" but he was interrupted by someone bursting into my room.

"I knew it!" An angry looking Lucina shouted, a finger pointed at me. After that, the whole barracks had gone so silent at her sudden shout. As Lucina realized that, she got in as a head poked from the hallway. "Everything alright?" Stahl asked.

"Yeah, *cough* Lucina had just made an important discovery about the Einherjar and couldn't contain her excitement *cough*" I said, trying to keep a straight face.

"Oh, really? What did you find out, Lucina?" He asked, interested.

"W-well, I…" She stammered.

"She found out that Einherjar do not need to eat, since they sustain on the wielder's mana." I blurted out. Stahl looked at me weirdly before processing what I had said, and stepping up to Roy (Towering over us with his 6'1) and laying a hand on his shoulder. With a tear in his eye he said "I'm sorry." And left. We all just stared at the doorway before remembering ourselves, and locking the door to the room.

"Do you wanna get found, Lucina?!" I hissed. "Because this is how people find out about your secret!" She looked sheepish for a second, before saying "Nevermind that! So you _do_ know the future! Why did you never tell us?!" she whisper-shouted.

"Do you not know about the butterfly effect?! I'm already having a bad time dealing with the shit that the other Nick left us to deal with, I don't know what the fuck is going on already and wanna use what little advantage I have to set a timeline straight, alright?!" I said, angry. But sadly, she didn't back down, and only pressed on further.

"So you didn't save them because you're selfish, huh? That was to be expected from a man that took the whole world for himself." I honestly had no idea what she was talking about, since she obviously thinks that I'm like the other Nick, but that one word.

'So you didn't save them because you're selfish, huh?'

'because you're selfish, huh?'

'because you're _selfish_ '

I didn't even realize it, but I was holding her against the wall by the neck of her shirt "Listen here, you sorry excuse for a royal! I lost my whole world and still got back up to help save yours, so you don't get to say I'm selfish, Mrs. Fucking hypocrite! You left your entire world to devastation just because you wanted to be with daddy dearest!" I saw an expression of hurt flashing on her face, but I wasn't certainly backing down now.

"Well, guess what? Yes, I know of the future. In fact, I know so much of the future, that I know of different timelines, included one where you didn't fuck up your friends and family, and actually did something good instead of fucking up the entire timeline!" I then pushed her towards the door as I saw tears starting to well up in her eyes, and said "Get out. Just, get out." She did, unlocking and slamming the door on her way out.

I sighed, clenching the bridge of my nose in frustration. This was not at all how I planned it to be. I'd have to apologize later.

"Roy, come back." I said, to which the Einherjar stopped drawing on my power and returned into my pocket.

"Well, I guess that is one way of passing the time." I sighed again as I went to lunch. There really was nothing memorable about lunch, aside from Lucina and Ricken sneaking glances at me, both for different reasons as I sat by myself and pondered over the recent events.

* * *

"And that's the story of how I basically invented hammerspace." I said, proud of myself. We were sitting in Robin's room as we finally convinced him to get his ass off the desk, and we were chatting amongst ourselves about stuff, when I suddenly remembered about it.

"Dude, you told us nothing." Robin said.

You can't start a phrase with "And that's the story" without prompt." Ricken continued.

"Oh, really?" I said, in a faux-innocent tone. "Well aren't you a little interested at all now?" I wiggled my eyebrows for extra effect.

"Fine." Robin groaned. "Tell us about this 'hammerspace'" he said.

"Gladly!" I pointed at him. "So, it all began when…"

After finishing my lunch, I hurried my way to Lissa after remembering that I wanted to talk to her about staves.

"Hey Lissa!" I called out. She was currently lying with her head on the table, looking on the verge of passing out from lack of sleep. Neither Frederick nor Chrom were in sight, and Emmeryn had left (with my Marth nuuu) a while ago. "You okay?" I asked. She jolted awake from her semi-sleeping position on the table.

"Y-yeah? Whazzit?" She mumbled, looking tired as hell with bags under her eyes that rivalled mine (but she was probably not used to the lack of sleep).

"Are you okay?" I asked again, concerned about one of our only two healers being in such a bad shape. "Yes, I'm fine, thank you…" And she was nodding off to sleep again. "Chrom, stop… that vase is important… no…" welp. There goes my chance. And the only one other that I can ask…

I dragged my feet towards the table next to ours.

"Good evening, lady Maribelle." I said with a polite smite that was more plastic than else.

"Hmph. At least you have decent manners, despite always staying near those peasants. I wonder how you even came in possession of the Hero King's soul. Perhaps you stole it." She said, not even bothering to look at me, but rather keeping her eyes closed while she laid down her tea cup. The fucking bitch! How dare she assume that I-

"Nevertheless, that is none of my business. Why would a peasant such as yourself ask of my presence?" I'm already starting to regret this.

"I would like to learn how to use staves." I mumbled. "Come again? I didn't quite hear you." She said, smirking. Yes, she heard. "I would like to learn how to use staves." I repeated in a clearer tone.

She hmphed again, before, with that same malicious smirk on her face, she replied "Very well. It is only fair that you make up for the headache you're causing my darling Lissa by lightening up her workload." I would've asked her what she meant, but she was already speaking up again. "At one condition, however." I arched an eyebrow questioningly, because when the hell did I have something of use to her? "You will teach me how to fly that winged horse you came on. Zephyr, I believe dear Sumia called him?" And then, without waiting for a reply, she had already gotten up and was walking towards the stables. "Ah, hold on!" I shouted, before hurrying after her.

When we arrived, we found Sumia there as well, a pleasant smile on her face. "Ah, Maribelle! So you've changed your mind about becoming a pegasus rider?" Sumia was making an impressive show of Puppy Eyes™, making me want to give in despite her not even asking me anything. That's impressive.

Maribelle made an uneasy huff of laugh, before saying "Fear not, Sumia. I will learn how to mount on a pegasus. However, I needed some… assistance with this one in particular." And here I realized what I was here for.

"So you want me to tell you how you should ride Zephyr?" I asked, just to be clear.

A tick mark appeared on Maribelle's forehead as she breathed in and out, before saying "Basically… yes. It appears that you are the only one that this… steed will allow itself to be ridden from." It feels like it physically pained her to say that.

"Alright… uhm…" to be honest I had no idea what to do. "Could you please leave me five minutes alone with the pegasus? I'll think something up." They both nodded and left.

"Alright, shithead, so why don't you want Maribelle to ride you?"

He neighed.

"Oh, don't give me that crap, we both know that he's dead."

He neighed, this time louder.

"You _know_ that he didn't mean to leave you alone. You gotta get over it."

He shook his head.

"Come on, it's your chance at a new life! Or at least you can stay nice till the war ends. We can't spare any more pegasi."

He snorted.

"Fuck you too man."

He neighed again.

"Fine, I'll treat you to something nice once the war ends."

He did a small neigh.

"And I'll learn to properly ride you."

He neighed slightly louder.

"No, that's taking it too far."

He gave the equivalent of a horsey laugh.

"So, it's a deal?"

He pushed me with his muzzle towards the door.

"Deal." I turned towards the door, and shouted "Maribelle! He's ready!" Sumia came back with a Maribelle in tow who looked like she would've rather been anywhere else. "Try riding him. He should no longer be hostile." She regarded me with a distrusting expression, before hmphing and getting onto Zephyr. As the horse showed no immediate signs of trying to unbuckle her, both Sumia and her stared at me with something like respect or awe, the former much more expressive than the latter.

"Amazing!" Sumia cheered as Maribelle got down from him, staring at me.

"Very well... Sumia, darling, if you could… I would like to start flight lessons tomorrow." She said, looking like she was about to pass out at saying that. "I suppose I will have my end of the bargain to hold up." And damn, why does it sound like you wanted me to fail? Not cool.

"Follow me." She said curtly, and started walking towards the training grounds.

"Why are we here? Staves aren't weapons." I asked, confused as I held up the healing staff she handed me. I've never seen someone thwack the shit out of a training dummy and I hope this isn't the way she plans on teaching me.

"It is the best environment for you to focus. Now" And she took a knife out of… her parasol? Damn. "What do you feel about this." She removed her glove and oh

She slashed open her palm, holding it up for me to see, close enough that I could even smell the iron in the body.

"Why." Was my answer. I'm sure there are better ways to get some training done, right?

She sighed, as if she expected my answer but was disappointed all the same. "Hmph. I will be frank with you, out of thanks for your earlier help." Alright?

"I doubt that you'll be able to do much with a staff, besides smashing it against an opponent's head. While your magical capabilities are fit, if we are to believe Miriel's word, and you are eager to learn, I'm afraid you lack the emotional empathy required to use a staff. The staff channels your emotions, your concern for the wounded and your desire to save them. While during spellcasting the emotions are allowed to run amok to strengthen the chant, using wands needs you keeping your emotions in check, for you not to be taken over by panic." Here she sighed again.

"However, if you lack basic concern for a wounded comrade, something that may be drawn from your own distorted concept of pain" Here I winced, because it was true that I never had much of a problem bearing pain, especially after starting self harm (a practice that I no longer do simply because a stab in the heart was enough) but I never believed it to be an impediment.

"But, since I have made a promise, I will at least teach you what you _can_ do with a staff." She then grabbed an orb and substituted the orb that was on top of the staff I was holding.

"First of all, you will promise me that you will never, _never_ use a wand on a living being. The consequences for misuse of a wand are very grave and I shouldn't be teaching you in the first place." I nodded furiously.

"That is a warp staff. Now, channel your energy and focus on moving the training dummy." I did as told, and despite the jolt of pain running down my arm towards the warp staff, I still focused and made the staff glow. I opened my eyes and…

"It appears you got it on your first try. Good." She said. "Now, where did you warp the dummy?" I realized with horror that I hadn't thought about WHERE to warp it, but just about warping. She seemed to pick up on my train of thought before removing the wand from my hands. "It appears we'll need another dummy." But I felt… something. I couldn't quite place it, but it felt as if something was in the back of your mind, you're not quite thinking about it but it's there. "Wait… Maybe if I…" I brought my hands together, trying to think about the dummy in the best detail I could. And then… "Rescue!" I shouted, closing my eyes. The pain struck me again, but it was bearable. I looked in front of me and found… the dummy, clattering on the ground.

"Huh. Neat." I said.

* * *

"And that's the story of how I invented hammerspace." I repeated. I was proud of myself for that.

"That's impressive, but how could you handle the cost of using them without a wand? I thought they were pretty high…" Ricken asked.

"Ah… that… you see, according to Miriel, when I came into this world" Ricken knew about this already, so I didn't need to explain myself "I had an open wound, right next to the heart. Since my world has no mana, I was this big empty shell that asked to be filled. Basically, I absorbed a _lot_ of mana from the portal, and my heart reacted accordingly, starting to produce that same mana. So my body's mana is rich, and that makes it so that I can do a lot of spells without tiring, but it's like forcing a high amount of current into a low voltage socket, understand?" I said.

"I have no idea what a socket or voltage is, but I kinda understand." Robin said.

"Oh! Would you look at the time!" Ricken suddenly shouted. I looked at the clock and it said that it was nearly 7PM, so Ricken started dragging me away as Robin looked at us weirdly.

We made our way out of the garrison with little effort, and headed towards the castle. Chrom was out, so he wouldn't be bothering us with asking where were we going, even though I didn't know exactly where he was. As we neared the castle, I whispered to Ricken "Hold on! I know a way of entering that won't get us noticed by the guards! I heard Chrom and Frederick talking about it earlier." That was a little white lie, but he didn't know that.

I led Ricken around the castle wall, trying to find the damn hole. After having run around nearly the entire castle, we finally found it, covered by some bushes and trees. He seemed surprised, but turned to me and grinned before entering, me following him all the while. After nearly getting lost twice, he finally managed to find his way and, after sneaking past the (admittedly lax) guards with ease, we found our way to the Exalt's archives.

The archives were massive. If I had to guess, this place was at least twice as big as a normal library, and it was all in the castle's underground! Rows and rows of bookshelves were lined up, divided by category of books about just anything you could think about. If any books written in Ancient (besides magical tomes) weren't here, then I don't know where they could be.

As I turned towards Ricken, I noticed that he was already gone, leaving me by my lonesome. Where the hell was he?! I started to search around for him, but quickly got lost in the sea of books that was this place. I couldn't even find my way back to the start!

Since searching for Ricken was apparently useless, I began looking at the books. Most of the titles were in the new tongue (much to my dismay) however, there were some in ancient tongue that drew my interest. 'Spellcasting for beginners', with the author being a certain "Merric", I was definitely taking this. 'How to tame a wyvern' by Jill of Daein. While interesting, I severely doubt that "my" mount would let me get away with that. I ignored it. 'Cooking for dummies, by Oscar' no thanks, I'm not into cooking, and…

"Wha? 'Everything you need to know about Ice Magic'? There's no author…" I was curious since I have never heard of any kind of ice magic besides Fimbulvetr, so I grabbed the book. As I touched it, I felt a spike of cold rush up my arm, and I quickly snapped back my arm. I could barely feel my hand, so I looked down and it had become a purplish color, the tips of my fingers had become frozen and I felt it pulsating.

The book suddenly was launched out of the bookshelf, and it opened on the ground, where ice cold air suddenly came out. The blast of cold made me shiver as I jumped back to avoid whatever was happening, and I grasped Uruz for comfort, despite it being made of metal. The cold had already started to spread to the rest of the archives, and it was quickly filling everything. I looked around looking for a solution, but the only thing that looked odd was the book on the ground. The temperature must've gotten to -10 already, I can't stop shivering and can't feel anything.

I made a dash towards the book, trying to snap it shut, but it just wouldn't close itself and stop blasting cold. I tried to put my whole weight onto it, but it simply held strong. Stabbing it with my lance wasn't working either, as when it made contact the frost started rushing up it, making me drop it.

Out of ideas, I started looking for anything in the book, finally finding the phrase that was supposed to be used to activate the spell. As I read it, I realized just how fucked I was, since I was not a certain summoner called Sheena (even though I do summon people). But sadly, in a panic and out of ideas I shouted:

"By my right as a pact maker, I call upon the disciple of everlasting ice. I summon thee: come, Celsius!" my voice rang out, embellished by the magical ring under me. I felt the shock of using such a powerful spell despite not being fit for it run through me, feeling as if all my nerves in the arm were going on overdrive. For some reason a part of my mind, perhaps because of the aforementioned shock, singsang "Miriel's gonna kill you" in an annoying voice.

Then, everything stopped. The cold stopped beating upon me, before slowly retreating into the book. Then, a small person popped out. She had snow white (dead) skin, with black hair and blue eyes, and wore a blue cloak around her legs (AN: that's the best way I can describe it, since I'm no expert in dressing), brown boots and little else, with the rest of her body being covered by a skin tight suit the same color of her skin (either that, or she was legitimately nude) and golden rings around her waist, neck and arms.

She stared at me for what felt like the longest second in my life before saying "You're not Sheena. Who are you?" She said. Her voice sounded like that of a child, despite being as tall as me.

"I-" But I had no time to answer. She sighed and said "I can't feel her mana anymore… did she go and get herself killed?" she sighed again, as if she was resigned and muttered "At least Mithos took 4000 years to die… Anyways, blah blah blah, if you want to gain my power you gotta first remove the existing pact, yadda yadda, are you ready?"

What the hell?! "No, I'm not ready! I didn't even know you were in there!" "Too bad then." And then she left.

Ricken arrived a few minutes later to find me still like that, book lying on the floor and a puddle of blood gathering under me. He started gaping at me.

"Ricken?" I called.

"Yes?"

"Don't ask. Please."

 **You know, originally I had planned for Nick to fight Celsius immediately, then I slapped myself because of how silly that sounded. In the game you needed a party of level 40-50 people to deal with her, and he's barely level 13. With a broken arm. Alone.**

 **Also, please do not think that I do not take into account how many times Nick's getting injured. That's a whole can of worms that we'll open when the time's due. (AKA too late)**

 **Also, only one day left till the assassination attempt. Uh-oh.**

 **Stats are unchanged. The two books will come in handy later. Ninni51, out.**

Spellcasting for beginners – Raises tome weapon rank to C

Ice Seal – Summons on your point in the map the special fight "Celsius"


	14. Chapter 13

**Hey there guys! It's me, ya boi Ninni51 back at it again with The Otherwordly Soldier. Do you like the story so far? I hope I'm making a decent job, for a self-insert.**

 **I've been very busy lately, what with doing anything to avoid writing this chapter simply because I** _ **hated**_ **it. I even had to rewrite a whole chunk of the chapter simply because I was not happy with how it came. So please, Read and Review.**

 **Also, the next chapter will take a while to write: it may take longer than the usual week for me to post it, but, in its stead, I'll be doing a Q &A with the characters! (If I get enough asks) If you're interested in asking just about anything, do so.**

 **Chapter 15: Magic is Everything!**

I have moved everything important that I own into my hammerspace. The two tomes I stole, the clothes I first came with in this dimension (I never threw them away, despite there being evident tears in the fabric due to me getting shot and stabbed and what-not. I needed a reminder of home), my winged spear, the naginata, my shield and armor, and my Einherjar (apparently when I summon them it now comes directly from my heart which is kinda weird).

( _Any of this is relevant how?_ )

Well… there's no room for me in the Shepherds' garrison. And I mean literally: my room is no longer there.

I guess some context is needed, huh? Well… let's start from the beginning…

As it turns out, all that confrontation and the frost DID raise the guards' alert, and we couldn't exactly stealth our way outta there since I was leaving a trail of blood after my confrontation with the ice spirit that by no means should be in this game. I had hoped that we wouldn't be found, but the guards aren't _that_ inept apparently.

After finding us in a place that we weren't allowed in, the guards dragged our asses right into the cells where we spent the night, before taking us the morning after to throne room to plead for our crimes.

A rather amused Emmeryn and a slap on the wrist by Frederick since we 'technically' stole nothing (they checked our belongings, but found nothing since I had those two books in my… "dimension"? no idea, also Ricken didn't find what he wanted to find) means that we were back at the garrison and people just chalked it up to us wanting "an adventure" or whatever. The benefits of being a youngling I guess. However, that didn't mean that my troubles were over…

* * *

"You stupid *thwack* masochistic *thwack* irresponsible *thwack* imbecile!" Lissa started hitting me with her staff as soon as she saw my self-inserted injuries in the infirmary. She did fix me up first, though. That was nice.

"Hold on!" I shouted, covering myself with my hands to avoid thwacking. Lissa stopped, although the look she was giving me said that if I didn't have a damn good excuse I'd receive more thwacking, which I'd rather not, thank you. "In my defense…" I started, racking my brain for something to say. "I am much faster than you'd be inclined to believe." I blurted out. "Wha…?"

"See ya! Thanks for the healing, Liz!" I took off at a speed I didn't know I was capable of. I ran through the entire place twice, Lissa hot on my heels before finding my room, closing the door and pushing myself against it. Lissa tried to force it open, but I held strong. Eventually, she gave up trying, but not until after grumbling under her breath with promises of death.

I sagged in relief, leaning against the door as I let a sigh escape my lips. I finally looked at my room and holy shit Lucina don't jumpscare me like that.

"Took you long enough, huh?" She asked rhetorically. "Look, Lucina, I'm sorry I-" but she waved her hand in dismissal. "Nevermind that. I'm still mad at you, but we have more important things to do. It's tonight." Any trace of residual mirth from earlier vanished, my face immediately turning serious.

"Already?" I asked, a bit concerned. I had hoped that it would take a buttload of time, like, I don't know, EVERYTHING ELSE. "Alright. So, what is the plan? We must avoid Chrom getting injured, and Emmeryn's death. How do we do that?" She turned to look at me with a surprised expression.

"Wait, you want to save Aunt Emm? I thought you said-" I was so sick of this bullshit that I actually shushed her.

"Alright Lucina you're going to listen here and now to what I have to say. It's the second time this happens, third if you count my short encounter with Rose, but you gotta understand that I. Am not. Your Nick. I have no idea what the guy had planned, since he did not bother to tell me, but I. Am not. Him. So stop thinking I am." I saw in her eyes that tears were already gathering up and breathed deeply before letting out a sigh. "So, why would I have the genius idea to let Ylisse's pride get gutted while we can do something about it?" I was already feeling the beginning of a headache.

"Well, in the original timeline you actually became a plegian soldier, quickly rising up in the ranks and becoming a general before you became the Plegian king by starting up a revolution to overthrow the Mad King Gangrel. Aunt Emmeryn was already dead by then though. I thought we would railroad the timeline into its original state." She said with such a matter-of-fact tone that it honestly scared me. What she said sounded so surreal, and yet she was so sure of it. I started to massage my temples as I pondered over what she had said.

"Alright—It's clear that that plan isn't going to work. There is just too much difference between the timelines to even hope to make it work. Me and the other Nick are too different to try to railroad it into something working and predictable. The timeline I have knowledge of accounts on Emmeryn's death in a different place to stir doubt into the plegian ranks, although I guess that the other me fit that role quite well. But since we don't have him, we'll have to save her tonight. Any ideas on how we'll do that?" I kept massaging my temples. OF COURSE we couldn't just simply follow canon, no, that would be too easy…

"Wait, if we just gotta save the Exalt, we could just guard her chambers tonight, right?" She asked.

"Wish it was this easy… but no, you also have to be near Chrom to protect him from assassins that would injure him." She made an O with her mouth in understanding. "We could spread rumors to stay on guard to everyone, but we'd risk getting the assassins on guard and having them not strike tonight…" Mmh… "Oh! Do you remember when you came here that you used that "Marth" persona?" I asked her. It was a bit of a gamble since I had not actually heard of Marth aside from the actual Ylissean prince, but maybe…

"You mean this old mask?" She asked, whipping out just what I needed.

"Yes! We could have you jump in at the last second to protect Chrom, warn him about the assassins and then we'll defend Emmeryn!" I said. Why bother making a plan when you can just copy paste canon? It's so much easier and prevents good ol' me from having headaches.

( _I bet it's easier huh? Not like you can come up with a plan yourself)_

I shivered as the traitorous thought settled in my mind. Why does this keep happening lately?! I thought I was over this…

As I snap back to reality I notice a concerned looking Lucina staring at me. "I'm fine." I dismiss her unasked question "I'll just need to take a nap right now. I haven't been feeling up to scratch lately and let me tell you: prison cells are NOT comfortable. Now shoo. I gotta sleep." I make shooing hand motions telling her to go away, and she casts one last concerned look towards me before leaving. Nosy.

After she leaves, however, OF COURSE I'm not gonna get some sleepy time. Because why would something go my way?

And so…

*thud* A strong blow against the door nearly busts it open, lock and everything. Only a few seconds pass before another, even stronger blow to the door sends me into full panic mode, hiding under my bed.

A third blow busts open the door, revealing Lissa in full battle priestess outfit, wielding a hammer. What?

"WHERE. ARE. YOU?" she basically screams as another blow can be heard. I decide to take a peek, only to find that my drawer was completely busted, broken under the force of a hammer-wielding-princess. It's kind of scary, honestly.

"Nick!" She screamed hysterically, before running out of the door, still dragging along said hammer.

* * *

"And that is why I'm hiding here." I said, from under Chrom's bed, matter-of-factly. I had decided to hide here, because this was probably the only room that Lissa wouldn't bust open in looking for me, and since she was STILL looking for me, I needed someplace to hide. I don't care if it creeped him out, I honestly feel like my life has a bit more importance than his commodity. "Also, I'm probably going to need a new room since she came in and started destroying the furniture." I'm lucky that she didn't bother with the bed, probably deeming it too obvious.

"Alright…" He said, cupping his chin in a thinking motion. "I'll try to talk to Lissa. You keep hiding here, she probably won't think about looking for you here. If it doesn't work… good luck. Naga knows you'll need it." He winced sympathetically before going off to presumably save me from his sister's ire.

I began reading 'Spellcasting for beginners' to help pass the time. It was nothing particularly interesting or anything, but it did help me understand how I could start speeding things up towards becoming a decent mage. Apparently there were different ways of training my magical output other than simply hurting myself over and over again (ugh), like starting to channel my magic into a big spell till it starts hurting and immediately dispel it, avoiding so the resulting frying of my arms (I still have a vein shaped burn scar on my arm that looks moderately cool, but is honestly a lot more trouble than it's worth), or I could simply rapid-fire smaller tier spells until exertion, basically building up my anima rank. Also, if I want to use a spell without hurting myself, I can flow the magic into the spell at a pace that won't hurt me, letting it rest on the outside of my body instead of simply forcing a large amount of energy through it.

I could keep Roy and maybe Hauteclere constantly summoned so that I wouldn't have to keep them in my pockets at all times and they could get a bunch of fresh air. I'll do that, actually. So long as the mana flow isn't severed from me it should be fine. I've been using them as slaves lately anyways, and that is so Not Cool™.

"Roy and Hauteclere, come forth!" I called. I was running out of catchphrases.

Roy proceeded to stare at me weirdly as Hauteclere started stretching, her arm noticeably in an iron sling I had no idea where it came from. "Are you hiding under a bed?" Roy asked after a long moment, even him unsure of what he was asking.

"Indeed I am." I replied, unphazed by his disbelieving tone.

"Why." He continued.

"Because Lissa." I offered, and apparently that wasn't enough explanation to him, since he simply arched a red eyebrow questioningly, so I sighed and elaborated. "Lissa is chasing me down because I keep hurting myself by accident and this is the only place I feel safe enough being in." and apparently that was enough for Hauteclere to start guffawing loudly while Roy simply shook his head in exasperation at my antics.

"Oh and so- Bwah hah – you called us to save you from the big scary princess?" She asked, wiping a tear of mirth from her eye as she stared down at me.

"Actually" I began "I just want you to keep a constant draw on my mana. Wander around, spar, introduce yourselves to the shepherds, do whatever you feel like. Take it as personal time." I shrugged as much as I could from my lying down position.

"Oh." She stopped laughing, suddenly looking at me weirdly. "Well, that is oddly thoughtful of you. Thanks!" She replied shooting a thumbs up and went out of the door, ignoring my indignant cry at her last statement.

This book is damn old, but surprisingly well kept. It's pretty much what you'd expect from it: in the first pages there's a basic explanation for all the types of magic existing, while in later chapters there's actual chants that you can try for yourself, with the explanation for them. Attached to many of the pages are also notes, probably added in a later time to point out stuff.

Apparently, dark magic is a lot more related to having a "gift" for the dark arts, so either you can do them or you can't. There's no in between. After that, though, it gets a lot more powerful the more knowledge you have on how the world works, so it's basically a lot of studying, as I had suspected. It is powered up by your own mind and, surprisingly, using your body as a transformer from the Earth's (?) thermal energy to dark magic.

( _Would Francis make a good dark mage considering he's in college?_ )

Anima, instead, is a lot more loosely based on knowing the concepts, although you obviously need at least a basic idea of what the hell it is that you are doing. It relies a lot more willpower and draws on the caster's own mana storage to fire the spells, although said mana is also taken from the ambient mana. For example, in a desert where mana is excessively lacking due to the nonexistant amount of life, you'd have to draw more on your own mana than the ambient's, instead, in a highly mana-polluted zone (like a fooken portal) you could cast as much as you wish That is also probably why in Plegia regular mages are a lot harder to find compared to dark mages. Apparently, there are way more types of anima magic than the regular Fire, Wind and Thunder; Water, I found out, is apparently a very unpopular choice due to being a high-cost low-reward magic. You're basically Hydro-pumping your enemy, only it's actually closer to squirting them with a water bottle if you're not good at it. It actually has a fairly decent usage outside of warfare, which still keeps me interested in it.

Also, (and on this I found very little) anima magic relies on having the spirits' favour as well, and depending on how well liked you are they empower you.

( _There's a major spirit in the hammerspace. Is that enough to garner the spirits' hatred?_ )

Light magic, that in our times has been forgotten, apparently relies on faith, although in a very weird and loose way. Apparently, the "faith" you require is to trust that, every time you call upon something's power it will answer your call and grant you said power. The deity in this case can be any, as long as it can answer your call: for example, I could pray to Grima for his power and channel it into light magic and it'd work regardless of the fact that he's basically a necrodragon. Not that I'm gonna do it. Ew. It has apparently gone extinct sometime after Marth's reign because of some crazy cult that an exalt has faced with his own merry band of friends that in my honest opinion would deserve a game in of itself. Nevertheless, seeing as this book has been written in the Akaneian Era, it actually contains some spells that I could try if I actually had someone that I could draw power from.

Which I don't.

So that point is moot.

Finally, as Maribelle had briefly explained, wand magic comes partially from the caster's own mana, (unless they are not using a channel like a book or a staff, like I tend to do occasionally although it is not advisable) and from the feeling of empathy with the target. Apparently though, there's a catch: the stronger the empathic tie with the target is, the stronger will be your magic in turn, but you are also a lot more likely to panic. Healers, at least at the time of Merric (although I don't know if those practices are still in use) were taught with methods that border on point of torture (Take in mind, though, that almost _never_ in the continent of Ylisse were people put against their will to become healers, since it almost always led to the point of madness) to not become emotionally compromised with their patients and to not panic in the face of death and pain. Lissa and Maribelle have gained a whole new brand of respect from me.

( _Rose is a healer too)_

Shivering as I thought that, I noticed that as a post-it note, clearly made a lot after the original book was released (seriously this thing was ANCIENT. Well kept, for sure, but damn.), were also the explainations of two more types of magic, both of which particularly interested me: Cards.

Apparently, somewhere 2000 years from now, tales talk about an old man who could summon thousands of spirits to fight at his aide, always returning from death despite being slain countless times and their loyalty unwavering. He managed to conquer Macedon on his own as a result. However, before he could move onto other targets, a sudden illness befell him, and as his health condition rapidly deteriorated, the spirits stopped attacking the other countries. Before the king could die, however, he sealed his magic into thousands of cards and gave them to his daughter, a woman named "Einherjar", asking her to finish the conquest of the world he had started. However, the daughter revealed her plan, and the illness was in reality poison that she personally put in his food to stop him. Finishing him off, the daughter vanished without a trace, and legends say that the spirits are still kept in custody by her dynasty, who add the most valiant heroes to their ranks.

( _Not really, right now._ )

Also, if one knew the secret to this kind of magic, they could technically seal anything they wanted into them. This was apparently discovered after the Radiant Hero came, bringing with himself several cards that were said to be imbued with magic. So, the Spectre card from RD and such fall under the same category as the Einherjar? I should ask Old Hubba about them sometime.

I'm also working towards becoming a decent class, rather than a lance-locked foot soldier. As it is, I'm currently aiming for either a reclass, and then see my alternative classes (do I even have them considering I started off as a civilian?) or to simply evolve into a Basara or some other Magic based class, since it is simply superior to physical weapons and a strong person could snap me like a twig if I stayed in the frontline. Maybe not now, but take for example that a wyvern knight or a paladin decides to ram into me with the strength of their mount. Since I can't do much to halt their momentum aside from chucking my lance at them, even if I raise my shield up they're gonna simply break what's behind it. I have come to the point where nothing but the best of magical attacks even do anything to me at this point. I'm stuck at this weird spot where I cannot use magic effectively without hurting myself, but I am a lance class with stupidly high.

Actually- hold on a second.

( _Uh-oh. Woe is me moment coming._ )

Why am I even planning any of this? Do I honestly want to stick around in these barracks for the rest of my life, fighting day in and day out for a world that I don't even know about?

Like, honestly. I have no motivation for fighting. The shepherds are my friends, sure; I have the responsibility because of having knowledge of the future, ok- but do I honestly want to be a soldier? Before any of this, no matter how shitty it was I had a life, a dream-

 **I had a family.**

And I threw it out of the window, just because I didn't want to deal with my problems.

( _And it only took a month to realize that._ )

A month. A month. In ten days it would be my birthday, and I'm gonna spend it fighting for my life in a war I have no place in.

In nine days it would be Francis' birthday. And as an early gift, I have given him one less brother.

I can already feel the panic attack rising in my throat. I deserve it.

Despite what any silly nightmare may say, I don't think he could ever bring himself to hate me. Oh sure, he might be bitter about stuff when we argue, but it never lasts more than a day at worst.

I had been holding onto life for four years, just for him and mom. For the longest time, they were the only things that mattered.

And then I threw it away.

Man, I must really suck as a brother, huh?

Damn. I really gotta get away from under here, the dust is getting in my eyes making me tear up. Perhaps I'll go jump off the castle's balcony. That's a high enough point.

* * *

That's how Roy found me, at the highest balcony of Ylisstol's castle having snuck in once again (neither me or Ricken had given the secret that allowed us to get in, blaming it instead on the guards), crying my eyes out while I simply sat there hugging my knees, wondering once again if I just should end it for the second time. I had gotten lost in staring at Ylisstol from all the way up here. Very pretty, if I do say so myself. Which I do. It was nearly dinnertime I think, I had spent a lot more time reading the book than I had thought, judging from the position of the moon, and the attack would happen at midnight. I was vaguely aware of his presence as the mana flowing out of me didn't travel very long, barely half a meter; no doubt the same way that he knew how to find me. No guards would pass by here; this place being hidden from the patrol shifts as there was no reason someone would want to get to this place. Well, besides me.

He said nothing, opting instead to place a hand on my shoulder. Ignoring it, I decided to simply strike some meaningless conversation.

"Do you *hic* wish Lilina were here? When all of this is over we could try to find *sniff* her." I said, trying (and failing) to avoid having my voice crack from the tears.

"Sometimes." He replied. "Missing home?" He asked. I simply nodded, burying once again my face in my knees, my hair falling on my face. Despite my desperation, some part of my mind opted to take notice that it had been a while since the last cut, and now my hair had taken a long-ish look, nearly arriving at my shoulders, being mostly green with the roots starting to re-assume their natural chestnut color.

"Wh-where's Hauteclere?" I asked, trying to distract myself. At this, Roy chuckled and said "She's been drinking Vaike under the table for the past half-hour." He shook his head amusedly. I simply nodded again. That sounds like something she would do.

"Come on, let's head to dinner." He tugged me lightly, trying to get me to move, but I just didn't feel like it. Not that I could go back there anyways. "Can't. Lissa's mad." I said. He simply chuckled and pulled harder on my shoulder. "Come on, I'll protect you from the big, bad princess." He replied, a sense of mirth washing over us.

"Alright. If I die, it's on you though. You'll become the Einherjar of an Einherjar." I got up, starting to head towards the door, a plan on how to sneak past the guards already in my mind.

"You? An Einherjar?" He replied. "You'd be heroic enough? Psh." He said jokingly.

" _Of course_ I'm heroic enough!" I replied, turning my nose up in the air haughtily. "Who else can say to have had TWO heroic kings under his command?" He simply shook his head in amusement.

Maybe I can last long enough to at least see this war through. It can't be _that_ bad, right?

( _FOR FUCK'S SAKE, HE JUST HAD TO GO AND INVOKE MURPHY, DIDN'T HE?_ )

Then a knife flew past me, nailing Roy in the chest as both he and I summoned our weapons. He started coughing blood as I charged towards the assassin, him following with a limp after. Being flanked by both of us, the assassin took out his sword in a reverse grip, but he couldn't avoid both me and Roy attacking him at once, Roy cutting his head off after he dodged my stab with the lance.

And soon, all hell broke loose.

There was no time for moping. Maybe later, but certainly not now.

( _It has begun)_

 **It has begun indeed, Nick.**

 **This chapter was a pain in the ass for the longest time, thinking about how I would play out the assassination for longer than I'd be proud of saying before going "Fuck it" and starting it like this. Hope you guys aren't disappointed by the lack of changes from canon, but it's gonna be a pretty long while before we start seeing some. As much as I'm going to get chewed out for saying this, I believe that for the most part Awakening's plot is solid, aside from Walhart, Yen'fay and Emmeryn being fucking stupid, (although the latter is explained in game) even though it's really, really predictable. But what can you do.**

 **Also, let me remind you that from now till the next chapter you can ask anything to the characters and I'll make them answer forcibly! :D So ask away.**

 **That thief kill earned Roy 33 points! Woo! Still not enough exp for me to bother switching up his stats.**

 **Hope you have a nice week, Read and Review, Ninni51, out!** *drops mic*


	15. Chapter 14

**Hypothetically speaking, would Algiz make your AVO drop to 0 while raising your DEF/RES by 5? You're effectively bracing for the impact rather than trying to dodge a blow and being hit the same. Just a thought that came to me.**

 **ARSLOTHES: I've no idea. Go read the bottom of chapter A/N, please.**

 **Guest: So, hold on, let me check the facts. His plan was to rid the world of the Grimleal to prevent Grima from being resurrected, AKA become Chrom's daddy 2.0, so he decides to take control over the whole world, and in the process of doing so, hands pretty much half his forces to a general that he's keeping on a wet paper leash (Yen'fay) AND actively tries to severe that tie with him when the Valmese troops continuously attempt to kill Say'ri rather than apprehend her or something. And in the end, it is revealed that he was just a fucking puppet to Excellus, a member of the organization that he tried to exterminate. AND THEN- Get ready because this is the shit- HE MANAGES TO CHEAT DEATH OUT OF** _ **FUCKING STUBBORNESS**_ **THINKING HE WAS STILL RIGHT IN WHAT HE WAS DOING. I'm not saying that Walhart isn't a good leader or a strong man, but he's not an intelligent person.**

 **Kidemonas: Tell him to do his best and he could probably pass off as Nino *snort* it'd be cruel and unusual towards Roy to dress up as his best friend though. Nick would also need to cut and dye his hair again, because now the roots are showing the original brown color and his hair is getting long-ish. I'll probably do it after the end of the Plegian invasion chapter, maybe as an omake.**

 **And sadly, Wolt qualifies only as second best archer, 3-13 has transcended the status of "Good" and became a memelord. '-'**

 **Chapter 17: A flock of Plegians is called a murder**

"Ah, Ylisstol. Home to the cult of Naga, the Fire emblem and a lot of pretty people, including the Exalt, who is currently in the process of being murdered. Doesn't sound fun, does it?" I say, jovially to my fuzzy friend.

"What does it matter to you, curse-slinger?" she replied in a tone that I'm sure was affectionate under all that gruff. After all, we're besties!

"Well, as I said earlier, the Exalt is about to be assassinated, and we can't have that, now can we?" I say, pushing my point further. "I remember you owing the exalt a great deal, if I'm not mistaken." I say. Sadly, my friend is feeling huggy today, even if she should make haste, because next thing I know, I'm pinned to the ground by a giant cute bunny.

"How would you know that, man-spawn?!" I disappear in a flock of crows as I realize that my ribcage probably wouldn't be fine if she involuntarily pressed any further. It's a really neat trick that I have learned that impresses both gleeful children and raging adults alike.

"The crows tell me many things, kyah-ah-ah! If you want, I could tell you the Exalt's breast size, too." I say, winking. I mean, I don't actually have the information yet, but my crows always find what I ask of them, so it's like I have all the information in the world! Just, not all at once. I have tried that, and it gave me a really bad headache. I loved it! But I also couldn't move for about a month after that. Mama crow was really nice in feeding me though! Sadly, worms can only take you so far after all, so I decided to not repeat the experience till I have a nice wife that will take care of me.

She spluttered indignantly before simply turning away from me saying "Very well. I will go aide the Exalt, man-spawn. But know that if you are lying, I will have your head, even if I have to kill every single crow that I see!" Aaaaand she's off. Man, what a rude fella. But I'm sure she's misguided! She actually can't kill me, so long as crows exist. But I guess being an endangered species makes you think others are too at risk. Silly her.

Anyways, I resume my crow-vision. Let's see…

Oh! The otherworlder and his ghostly buddy are now racing across the halls towards the Exalt! I do not like him, though. Ghosts do not bleed when they die. At least the Risen have the decency to bleed a little before disappearing! His ghosts instead, just go poof and they're gone. And they don't actually die!

I pouted thinking of that. Oh well. Can't have one person ruin my mood, now can I? Let's see if the others are doing some more interesting stuff.

The prince, secret-princess and secret-god are discussing boring stuff. I wonder why all these secrets. If I were a god or a princess, I would announce my godhood to the whole world to see! I would probably do it even without actually being one. You know, as a prank. What are these guys talking about again? Ah yes, the last Exalt's destruction of the Grimleal cult! Man, that would've been fun to be in! But they killed Dad too. That was less fun. Being raised by the crows is actually not so pleasant. But now the Grimleal are back! Even though most of them are a bunch of loons. At least I'm a crazy with standards!

Suddenly though, another blue haired figure appeared. She was wearing a mask, with the only noteworthy (and distinguishable) features being the twin tails hanging from her and the sword at her waist that reeks of Naga's magic. She draws her sword, pointing it at the prince and as I think that she's about to try and take him on (and how fun that would've been!) she huffs and says "Hmph. Thank me later." and an assassin suddenly breaks through the foliage from the bushes in the courtyard as she does a backflip landing behind him and slashing across his back, killing him.

I give her a 9/10! Would've been a fair 10 if there was any blood spilling, but the fella's clothing soaked it up. Oh well, what can you do. But then suddenly again another assassin bursts out, and in a panic she puts her foot on the previous assassin's sword and slips, making her fall while her mask is cut down, the sword grazing her cheek. But then Prince Charming comes to the rescue and fwoom! He unsheats his sword and fells the guy in one swift motion as the others are staring in incredulousness.

"Guess we're even now, eh?" He says, turning back to her.

"A-ah, I guess so… Wait! There are more of them, plotting the Exalt's demise!" But he's staring directly into her right eye, where the symbol of the exalt lies. "Uh-oh, that's gonna be a hard one to explain, kyah-ah-ah!" I laugh, unable to contain myself any longer. Why do they work as fighters, when these guys are even funnier than jesters? Man, I'll never understand.

"Dad, come on, stop being a creep. Why are we not helping them anyways?" I turn towards my new son. I have recently found him out when I saw an Ylissean mob trying to kill him, and he told me that he comes from the future. The crows confirmed his story, so I guess he's my son for real! Even though I'm still underage. He's also a bit of a coward, but I love him nevertheless. He has the appearance of a giant bunny, but with crow wings bursting out of his back that are strong enough to let him fly! Truly amazing.

"Well, son. I honestly would love the slaughter, but I can't go there or King Gangrel will have my head faster than I can make a crow pun! And as for you, you're free to go, but remember that your mother is currently a very single taguel! I don't think you'd want to explain to her exactly _why_ you won't mate with her, kyah-hah-hah!" He let out a shudder and turned bright red.

"Well then, hurry up and make me then!" He pouted.

"Not now son. Oooooh, it's getting to the good part there! Yarne, bring me something to eat."

* * *

The castle of Ylisstol, home to the royals of Ylisse (whenever they didn't feel like sleeping in the garrison, anyways) was truly a beauty. It was an impressing structure, mostly made of marble, its labyrinthic halls constantly lit and with guards continuously patrolling every inch. It was the very epitome of safety. However, Chrom couldn't help but feel completely the opposite, after that assassin's attack.

They weren't the target of the assassination, that much was clear. It felt like they were more of a target of opportunity, and, as Robin suggested, the wretched plegians were likely after his sister's life.

"That damn demon, doesn't he know the meaning of honor!?" he shouted out of anger. The answer was obvious, but he couldn't help but feel that way.

"Chrom! This way!" Robin shouted. Trust him to have made a complete map of the place in the little time he spent here. To be honest, Chrom knew this place like the back of his hand, although he spent very little time into it nowadays.

"Lucina, go call the others!" Robin shouted, Chrom nearly tripping into him from the sudden movement.

"But-" she started, but a glare from the tactician silenced her. "Right. Don't die, you two." And she ran off.

"By the way, where's that mysterious girl?" Chrom asked. A look around themselves told them that she had bolted off as well in the confusion, leaving a very frustrated pair. In his frustration, Robin shot a blast of wind against a wall, making a loud bang.

"Robin… do you realize that now they know our location?" Chrom asked, noticing the noise of footsteps racing down the hallways towards their location. Robin rubbed the back of his head sheepishly saying "That was the plan. Need to get the heat off your sister's back, right?" before readying a thunder spell as a group of six assassins approached, all armed with daggers.

"Well. Let's show these idiots what the Shepherds are made out of, shall we?" Chrom unsheathed his Falchion, grinning back to his tactician.

"Of course." The first assassin rushed towards him, trying to cut him down. He locked blades with Chrom before the familiar crackling of thunder rushed towards him. "Elthunder!" Chrom suddenly stepped aside with calculated movements as the ball of electricity came from behind him, frying the assassin.

* * *

So.

The chapter begun, and I'm like 2 stories over the actual location of the chapter, since the castle is hella big. Actually, make that only one story because we've just found the stairs. Thankfully, this floor is mostly reserved for very big rooms like dining halls, ballrooms and the such. At least it wasn't an endless maze of corridors and shit like the third floor, unless you call the first floor ground floor.

( _I'm floored by this explanation)_

In all seriousness, though. I'm currently at the floor above where the canon map for Foreseer would be. And at this rate, I'll soon be at the ground floor. The current situation is:

We've got to deal with a number between the canon twenty-ish assassins and an unknown higher number.

( _Who can be accounted for as an ally, right now?)_

I don't think the Shepherds are here. Sure, the garrison is like a mile from here, but I doubt that there's any of them besides Chrom, Robin and maybe Lucina from the cutscene. We can also assume that Panne will be here. Then there's me, Roy and Marth who is currently with the Exalt, and possibly Gaius if we can manage to sway him to our side. Still have no fucking idea where Hauteclere went, but the mana flow indicates that she's nowhere in the castle.

Also, if canon is any indication, the guards were all massacred and/or were spies to begin with.

So basically a 7 versus 20-30 trained professionals out for our lives.

( _Typical Shepherds business.)_

As I make my way towards the stairs, however, a pegasus bursts from one of the cathedral-like windows and bars our way, smoke covering her body in a very dramatic fashion that did nothing to actually hide the intruder's presence, but rather her appearance. Said hidden appearance was immediately revealed however, when a voice that, while I wouldn't call familiar, was indeed recognizable. Roy froze hearing it.

"Now, now, darling, stealing isn't nice, be it the spotlight" She strutted over to Roy, caressing his cheek as he couldn't move. "Or my toys." Had she left that big of an impression on my friend for him to be so scared?

I lowered my weapons in a… not quite nonthreatening way, but rather in a "please do go on, I'm ready to jump you any second though so watch your mouth" way.

( _Because that's a thing, right?)_

"What are you here for, Aversa?" I asked, in a no-nonsense tone. It was clear as the day she herself had nothing to do with the invasion, but she was stealing precious time that I could be spending alongside the others, every second one where a Shepherd could die.

She pouted in a very childish way at my tone, before schooling herself into something more serious, staring straight into my eyes. "I am legally required to at least make an effort to escort you to your world and redirect this timeline into canon before I use lethal force." She said, the last part sounding like something she was repeating something verbatim.

About her offer, though… "No way." I smirked at her, and by the way she was grinning, I assume that she enjoyed my refusal as well.

I'll admit that for a second I've considered it. I'm not that selfless. I wouldn't sacrifice my whole being for a lifetime of war in a world I honestly didn't care about. I thought that if given the choice I would take the chance to go home in a heartbeat, but…

( _Another blunder... you've been having a lot of those lately, eh?)_

 _(Face it, you're a failure.)_

 _(Here, let me help.)_

I shuddered as the memories hit me all at once. I was scared of going back home. Here people didn't judge me, couldn't judge me. Here I was free of doing my own thing, without the need of approval from anybody. Here, I could be Nick.

It didn't matter to Ricken. It didn't matter to Donnel. Or Robin, Or Lissa, Or Roy, Or Hauteclere, or ANY of the Shepherds. I know it's selfish, but why should I give that up?

"I'm glad that you said that. It makes everything all the more fun!" She literally fucking somersaulted, teleporting while she was about to hit the ground onto her pegasus. "Now, don't take this personal, hun. The higher-ups will fire me if I don't try to kill you. Let's start off with something easy, as per usual shònen rules, alright? But first, I need to take care of your little friend." And a card was already spinning in her hand, a blast of light and standing in her place was a girl, the rider nowhere to be seen. Roy, that by now had gotten unstuck from his stupor, gritted his teeth as he realized just who we were facing.

 _(He's not exactly wrong.)_

Standing before us was a fair-skinned, red clad individual, about as tall as I was. She had blue long hair like many nobles of this world, and similarly blue eyes almost too big to look normal. In her hand, where she wore fingerless gloves a lot of mages used to cast, sat the Bolganone tome. She was looking at us with a face of childish determination.

"I will not let myself be defeated another time! Summoner!" She pointed at me. I simply tilted my head questioningly, prompting a way too high pitched scream from her. "Go ahead! Lady Aversa is waiting for you! But know that eventually, I will have my Roy back!"

( _She's screaming in PURE DETERMINATION YEEEEEAH)_

"…eh? Roy, is your girlfriend high?" I turned towards my friend, who was torn between determination, second-hand embarrassment and amusement. "After our most recent… talk, she has got this weird idea that you've somehow kidnapped me and I'm forced to act as your soldier." He shook his head in amusement.

" **TAKE ME SERIOUSLY!** " She shrieked, charging up her mana before firing at me, making the ground beneath me explode. My shield glowed for a moment, enhancing the barrier that my mana erected around me before the spell ended as fast as it came. My hair was slightly singed. I sighed.

"Are you actually trying to destroy the castle? Use a different spell for Naga's sake." And I literally _chucked_ a standard issue Elwind tome at her.

( _Where did that come from?)_

Right after the creation of my hammerspace, I literally stored everything I found that could be useful. Sadly, stuff like food and Vulneraries goes bad when in there for some god forsaken reason, but I keep my only source of entertainment in this world, books, in there. I'm pretty much a walking library.

"Roy, do you want me to deal with her? She pretty much can't do anything to me and well… I understand if you're not too keen on facing her..." I trailed off, but he shook his head. "So long as I'm not truly hurting her I'll be fine. Might as well try to deal with her now, hoping she will see reason, if we don't want her to become a recurring theme... and maybe, I'll manage to sway her to our side." I shrugged; it really wasn't my business to deal with his GF's problems.

"Aight. Try not to die on me, yeah?" I told him. He should still be between staggeringly better to somewhat above her in terms of battle prowess, unless there were any anime training montages that I missed.

I rushed towards the next room, the only thing between me and the stairs leading down towards where I need to be. It was a huge ballroom. I snorted; this looked oddly right, despite this definitely not being my last battle with her. I probably won't be against her to begin with, but you know.

"Darling, what took you so long? I was getting bored here. I already have summoned my minion and everything too." At the very centre of the ballroom was Aversa, lying down on a table as the moonlight shone making a spotlight, with a hand covering her face dramatically. Standing directly in front of her was…

A child.

( _A 4'0 pink-haired child with pointy ears, green eyes and a beaming smile, covered by a yellow poncho and a beige mantle, at her hip a satchel that shined ominously. She also has on her forehead a dragon Laguz symbol.)_

I stared at the child who was looking way too eager about what was about to happen, and then to her master in annoyance.

"And you call this an "easy, shònen" start?" I muttered in annoyance.

"But of course! First comes the humiliating beginning that the protagonist has to go through before being saved by the cool side-character! Too bad you're alone…" She smirked maliciously.

"Hi! My name is *inaudible*, but you can call me Fae! Let's play!" Aside from the fact that the little girl in front of me is becoming a 7-foot monstrosity, I have no idea what her actual name is. Are my ears bleeding? I think they're bleeding. Also, Aversa is nowhere to be seen again.

( _For the record, the name is in draconic. In human it translates to something along the lines of Fae'deregh mornontor, which roughly translates to Young Divine Magic Dragon. Not the best naming sense, I know. She has taken to letting people call her Fae since Athos complained that he was going deaf everytime she talked about herself in third person, and it sounds close to our Faye, which she liked.)_

"Oh, fuck me." I said, staring annoyedly at the Manakete in front of me who was just done transforming.

"Maybe later darling. If you can survive, of course." Aversa responded to my sarcastic remark, before a push on my back from the person who put me in this situation found me charging at the dragon to avoid tripping and possibly getting roasted by divine flames.

* * *

Severa had managed to sneak away from her father. It wasn't that hard, since they basically distracted themselves, but she had done it, thankfully. Now she was dashing sword held at the ready towards the courtyard.

Validar, the worm, had been sending swarms of plegians to attack the Exalt. If she only managed to get to him, the rest would be easy game. Cut the head of the snake and all. However, when a scream tore its way out of Aunt Emmeryn's throat, she forgot everything about the evil sorcerer and dashed towards her chambers.

Thankfully (or not) most of the Plegians headed towards the distraction provided by Dad and _that man_ , which made it so that she could pass by without being stopped by anybody. When she arrived, she was met by a rather peculiar sight.

Prince Marth of Akaneia was duking it out with the future spymaster of the Ylisse-Plegia alliance. Her sword started glowing in approval as she felt power surge within her.

Truly peculiar.

"Hey, Blue, mind helping out a little turning off this thing or you're just gonna stand there and stare?" she realized he was talking to her, two knives in his hands crossed in a parry at Marth's downward slash. Suddenly, an impish grin split her face.

"Well… I might help you out, but you know… the help of the Hero King is REALLY useful, despite him being just a ghost. How can you make up for it, if I remove him?" She smiled at him, even batting her eyelashes for maximum effect. She was gonna do it anyways, Aunt Emmeryn did not look good passed out on the ground thanks to the power vacuum that was the Phantom Falchion. There was a reason it was a trump card.

…

Alright, the earlier statement was a lie, the aunt she had never met somehow still managed to look good passed out on the ground, but it was the principle of the thing that mattered.

"Well, I guess I'm just gonna have to wait here, while I eat these cookies…" She pulled out from a satchel one of the cookies that she had on herself. Truth being told, she had stolen them earlier from her father's satchel in the chaos. It was not like he needed them anyways! And she needed a piece of the past.

Suddenly, the cookie vanished from her hand at a speed that she could barely register, the thief in front of her as his opponent started dumbfounded at the place he was in earlier.

"Sold. Now help me deal with this thing. Murdering the Exalt would leave a bad taste in my mouth anyways." Marth charged once again towards them, silent as ever, as he tried to slash his Silver Sword at her, but a quick parry and an horizontal slash as a counter made him back off. He then sheathed his silver sword and was about to take out the rapier at his side, but Gaius proved to be a lot faster than he expected and managed to plunge one of his knives into the Einherjar's chest, earning a pretty deep gash to the side in return however that made him double over in pain. Severa jumped in and with a quick diagonal slash she cut the spirit in two.

"Done. Now, as for your thanks…" she began whispering the plan that she came up with into the thief's ear. His eyes widened impossibly before he turned to look at her. "Are you crazy? They're gonna kill me!" But she shook her head.

"Not on the peace-loving Exalt's watch, they're not. At best they're gonna throw you into a cell for your troubles, and we both know you can get out. Tell you what, if worst comes to worst I'll come bail you out." He grumbled, covering his injury. "Got an elixir or something? I ain't gonna be much use like this."

She unsheathed her blade once again (why had she bothered sheathing it in the first place?) and put the flat of Falchion against his injury. Then, the last of the power she borrowed from the spirit she channelled into healing his wound. The wound disappeared, nothing but the blood that stained his cape to even remember it was ever there.

"Damn, that blade's nice, Blue. Gonna have to find myself one, since they apparently aren't one-of-a-kind." She put on a show of being guarded about it, while doing a mental facepalm. She couldn't have been more obvious. However, Gaius simply held up his hands in a placating gesture. "Hey, it ain't my job to ask questions so don't worry. My job's robbing this place dry and then- not get the hell outta dodge, because of you." He glared at her, but she simply rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, you big baby. Now help me hide the Exalt until she wakes up so people believe she's either dead or ran away. Can't do with dead weight." The room where the Exalt had been hidden, was, in fact, a storage room. It was the whole reason Gaius had been going in that direction after all. So, they decided, she would simply have to sleep away in a chest while the battle played out. She had apparently been startled into summoning Marth by Gaius when he moved in to try and rob the place, unknowing of the Exalt's position. After summoning him, apparently due to her proximity, Falchion had awakened for the both of them and started draining Emmeryn of her mana. Also, since the old fart and his daughter are the only people who can summon decently, Marth immediately attacked Gaius while Aunt Emm passed out from the strain. Better than being killed, in the end.

She sighed wistfully as she lowered the lid on the chest. "See ya, auntie…"

Gaius popped his neck as he waited in the doorway. "So, ya coming? We have a job to do." She nodded and the both of them started heading towards the corridors where most of the plegians that hadn't gone after Dad were, lying in ambush. Then the ceiling gave out from above them.

* * *

Panne hated man-spawns with a fervor. They were the reason that her race had been exterminated, using cowardly tactics to destroy them one by one until she was the only one left. However, she couldn't deny that she _did_ owe the Exalt a favour, despite the actual one who had helped her was now dead and buried. But her species would've looked down on her in shame if she didn't make up her debt towards her, so here she was, since that curse-slinger wanted her to check this place out.

She didn't actually expect anything, but there was, in fact, an attack at the castle. She made her way inside to find two man-spawns fighting off several other man-spawns. They were good at killing each other; she would give them that. Man-spawns found always better ways to destroy themselves and somehow still remained the predominant race on the continent. It was baffling.

Despite her hatred, she sniffed the air from her hidden position, trying to figure out friend from foe. All of the men-spawn but one smelled of desert, which was probably the attacking force. The remaining one, instead, smelled somewhat like the old Exalt did. She would aide him, then. A one-time favour, then she would move on with her life.

It was decided.

She transformed and charged in the middle of the pack of man-spawns that had put the other two to the wall. There were seven, among these two curse-slingers and an archer. It was easy to see how the other two were being overwhelmed despite their combat prowess. Man-spawns knew no shame, hunting the others in packs, and it was turning on them.

She made a beeline for the archer, hurling her body into him before ending his life by severing his neck. The other man-spawns were reasonably frightened by this, and she wasted no time in taking advantage of this by tackling to the ground one of the curse-slingers. The group she was aiding regained their bearings reasonably quickly, the plegian one blasting a swordsman with a ball of thunder. At least they knew what they were doing.

However, the others were just as quick to regain their bearings because the next thing she knew, her body felt like it was being drained of all of its energy, the curse-slinger who was doing it a sick grin on his face.

Then, the blue-haired Ylissean jumped in slashed across his chest, making him drop the spell. A glance at her and a nod, and he was finishing off said curse-slinger without problem.

However, one of the axe-wielding ones had made his way behind him and was about to slam his axe into his back, but with one fluid motion he managed to block off the offending weapon. However, it was clear that it was a losing battle, so she jumped in, slamming her whole weight again into that man-spawn, knocking him out cold.

The remaining ones, it seemed, were dealing with the other two, the blue-haired one that she had just saved sporting a deep gash in the side from a lance while the plegian was locking blades with another sword-wielder.

The lance-wielder twisted his lance further in the prince's wound and even she flinched at seeing such a cruel act. However, the prince simply grit his teeth and grabbed the spear, removing it, before raising his blade to the sky, seemingly radiating sunlight just as if it was noon, before dashing towards the lancer, even wounded as he was. A foolish move that however bore fruit: the lancer was caught off guard by that move and didn't have time to dodge, and took a slash to the chest as punishment. Then the blue man-spawn jumped in the air and finished him off by splitting his skull with his blade.

"Damn… I gotta try and get that right some time…" he muttered, far too low for any man-spawn to hear but she could do that perfectly well. He was still wounded, but not as badly as before. Shrugging at the odd phrase, she turned to see that the other one had finished off his opponent as well, and was now pointedly staring at her. She untransformed to save energy and not have the man-spawns piss their pants.

"I'm Panne. I have a debt towards the Exalt and will fulfil it, but do not expect us to be allies." There. Straight to the point, just like she liked it, instead of talking a lot and saying nothing. The prince didn't seem offended, but rather disappointed, but nodded all the same.

Then, a deep gravelly voice started chuckling.

"Well, well, well… what do we have here? The prince of Ylisse, the last of the taguel, and… Oh! Well indeed, ha ha ha… I know you…" another curse-slinger stared pointedly at the Plegian one, who stared back in shock.

"What do you know about me and my past! I need to know!" he shouted, attempting to sound menacing but only managing to sound desperate.

The man simply chuckled once again. "Submit to me, and I might even honor you with the truth… what will you choose?" And without waiting for an answer, he shot an orb of darkness towards the blue-haired man-spawn.

* * *

The battle against Fae was… disappointing, for a variety of reasons.

I was panicked at first, I'll admit it. However, I quickly realized that without being able to take off, the manakete was in an awkward position at the center of the room where the ceiling could hold her full height. I actually was… eager. I felt a surge of bloodlust surge in me, wanting to fight, to win. It felt scary and exhilarating at the same time.

 **Charge, take a stab at the right wing, duck under the flames.**

I also had stopped hearing voices in my head, which I had thought were due to my depression. And maybe they are? But right now, I can't hear anything.

 **Lunge, abuse the stagger, retreat.**

In my defense, I could've _probably_ kicked Einherjar!Fae's ass without relying on whatever this is. Maybe. Her attacks were painfully telegraphed and held patterns much like a Dark Souls one. I wiped off the savage smirk that I realized came to my face at the thought.

 **Go around, slash at the back.**

Also, to my great surprise, this kind of Einherjar was different from the ones I summoned. It was honestly intriguing.

 **Shield up! Roll away from the flames.**

I had noticed that neither Hauteclere nor Marth and especially not Roy had the blue glow around them that made you notice in the game that this was, in fact, a spirit. I simply had chalked it off to an artistic decision at first, but during the start of the battle with Lilina, I noticed that she had it, which left me confused. Now, when I'm fighting with Fae, she has that same glow too. Which led me to asking.

 **Guard up! Throw yourself under the legs!**

In what ways are my Einherjar different from these?

 **Shield bash on its face to avoid getting bitten. Counterattack. Slash across its muzzle**

Well, first of all, the phantoms that Aversa… actually, let's make a distinction, just for the sake of clarity.

 **Lung-shit she dodged! Parry!**

What I summon appear to be completely sentient Phantoms that are capable of learning, improving and feeling complex emotions. They use common sense and are perfectly capable of refusing my orders if it goes against their moral code or simply they do not want to do something. That also takes out of the equation recruiting anything like Medeus, Zephiel and stuff. I also noticed that Roy grew stronger with the fights, which wasn't all that baffling. However, Lilina's strike was just as strong as the last time, and she had blazed Roy into oblivion (the bitch). That should account for some exp.

 **Get up, it's just a scratch.**

What… pretty much everybody else summons, are highly functional robots that hold no free will, have no margin for improvement and are overall just shadows of their past selves. They will believe just about every lie you tell them and shite. I honestly thought they could be more than that, given Eirika's reluctance to fight in canon, but it was pretty much overridden by some sort of 'fight or flight' instinct at the sign of a minimum amount of hostility from Old Hubba such as calling her 'guillible'. I'm going to call them 'Shadows' to distinct them from my 'Phantoms'.

 **Summon Elwind Tome, create blades of wind, aim at wings. Ignore pain.**

Shit, now I'm actually curious about what would happen if someone else summoned Celsius. She was pretty much her canon self when I summoned her… and admittedly, she sounded particularly depressed at being separated from Sheena. Assuming she's an Einherjar, someone else could be able to control her, although it didn't give me that impression. Are the spirits really something that travels across worlds or something?

 **Get out of her reach. Stab.**

Refocusing on the battle from my earlier ramblings, I had noticed that I had basically backed myself into a wall and was now simply trying to take stabs at her with my Uruz. Suddenly though, the manakete seemed to smirk (as much as a dragon could) and grabbed a table with her teeth before launching it at me. This was not what she had been doing up until now. What was going on? I also faintly noticed that it had some punch before throwing myself to the side to dodge it. Was some kind of party in the plans?

From the ground where I laid I tried to roll out of the way, but a paw blocked me by smashing me into the ground. The fact that my shield was currently on my back since I wasn't using it was also a Good Thing™, since it was preventing her talons from digging into my back. Instead, the bladed part of my shield was currently digging into my shoulder blades, which was slightly better since the weight was more evenly distributed.

Ow. It hurt like a bitch I also was still clutching Uruz.

"Gotcha!" The dragon above me half-chirped half-roared before picking me up with her teeth and launching me into the wall. My shield, surprisingly, decided to take a residence into the wall with its sharp edge. It was good, because being sliced up by my own shield would've not been cool.

I'm having a lot of concussions lately.

( _You'd think that we'd stop going after danger like this after the umpteenth time that we get bested.)_

Ah, you're back _._

 _(I've been making remarks on the fight up until now. Were you_ _ **that**_ _focused on the battle?)_

Sorta?

 _(Whatever. Perhaps you would like to take notice also of the fact that we're getting roasted?)_

Pssh, I'm already a depressed teenager. Roasts have no effect on me. Also, I apparently have a high as fuck resistance stat. The flames do hurt though. We need to have a talk later too. Also, can you switch your font so that we don't sound like Discount Ash? I'm not too comfortable with being taken from the fans like a crazy loon.

( _Wow, you have a worse concussion than I thought.)_

Nah, Fae just shot me against the fourth wall.

( _…*snicker* seriously though, we're about to get eaten.)_

Nah, no worries. I'm about to summon my Deus Ex Machina in 3, 2, 1…

*blink*

( _Well? Fae is approaching. She figured that the fire isn't doing much.)_

"Wait, no! Let me… let me try that again."

Gods, I sound drunk.

"3!" I shout.

Fae rears back, as if she's charging another flame, before shaking her head left and right, trying to keep herself from unleashing them, before roaring. " **Bwaaaah!** "

"2!" I shout, louder. The flames are inching closer towards us.

( _Yeah, no, sorry. You're fucking useless. I'll make our own miracle. Deus ex machina ain't gonna save us from a crit.)_

I was shoved at the back of my mind once again, where I could think clearly once again. What was going on with me? I was becoming a stupid fearless idiot who just wanted to fight, fight and fight.

My… other me…? Gods, there were SO MANY of me already. All in one fucking timeline. Anyways, my alternate personality grabbed the shield that was indented in the wall and curled up in a ball behind it. This was not the great warrior that had fought against Fae. That was me, I know it. Fighting's the only thing that ever came right to me. Or rather, to my body. Now that I'm taking a backseat, I no longer feel the bloodlust acting up. What was going on.

( _Hey…, is it too late to count on a Deus Ex Machina?)_

Now you're the one with a concussion. *sigh* I think it is too late.

 _(Hey! You didn't even let me try! Hold on, I got this. 3, 2, 1…)_

And then, surprisingly, a scream cut off the would-be roar from the creature that was about to turn me into an overcooked steak.

"Bolganone!" Lilina shouted, summoning the same force that she tried to hit me with under Fae, making the pavement basically explode. And I mean it. The pavement is now no more. And since we weren't on the ground floor, Fae dropped down like a sack of potatoes.

( _My sick prediction abilities are op.)_

Shut up and give me back my body and my concussion.

"Need a hand?" Roy offered. I nodded. He grabbed my hand while Lilina grabbed the other and helped me get on my feet. Momentarily ignoring the giant hole in the ceiling/pavement, I instead stared warily at the Shadow. I may have hit my head but that didn't mean I still couldn't be wary.

"I, ah… I may have let myself get carried away. Roy told me that you weren't keeping him as a slave and, well… uhm…" She struggled for words, but at that point I simply put a hand in front of her face.

"Let's worry about that later. Who are you taking orders from?"

"I… well… Lady Aversa's still my master, but… I just couldn't kill Roy." But that was all I needed to hear.

( _Isn't that a bit much?)_

No, it's not. " **It's over, then**." And then I pierced her chest, right into the heart. They both stared shocked at me, before a smile dawned over Lilina's face, before turning into a card. "Doubt I can pull this shit on Fae too, as much as I'd like to." I frowned. Then Roy decked me in the shoulder, frowning disapprovingly.

"Ow! Hey! You know there was no other choice so don't look at me that way." I scowled deeper. "It's not like I enjoyed doing that." He nodded, but the frown didn't leave him.

( _Huge ass dragon still downstairs? Hello?)_

I stared into the hole and not a second too soon because I was just in time to see a blue-headed figure turn into a FUCKING WHEEL OF DOOM WITH FALCHION IN HAND, CUTTING FAE IN TWO.

( _That's Severa, and that move was Lloyd's Tempest.)_

I rest my case. Also, Severa? Wot?

( _I assume that since there are no nitwits who decide fate, ChromxCordelia is a thing that exists here.)_

Huh. Cool. Now I'm glad I gave her that little push towards him.

...

( _What now?)_

Lesse. We're still concussed right?

( _Yep. It's starting to affect me in the back as well.)_

Great, so we can break fourth wall for silly shit. The others are at a standstill with Validar, yeah?

 _(Yessire.)_

Hmm. We've just had a fight with a huge ass dragon, got a new companion and had a fuCKING 20 DAYS LONG HIATUS DUE TO A PIECE OF SHIT SETTING FIRE TO OUR PHONE CONTROL UNIT. Right?

 _(That sounds about right, yeah.)_

Well, it sounds like a great occasion to end the chapter to an omake and start the next one in a completely different situation. You like it?

( _Wait what)_

I say you like it. See ya readers!

( _Hold on what about-_

 **That sounds about right. Again, sorry for the lack of updates recently but as previously stated, some piece of garbage set fire to the whole block's phone control unit (and by proxy, internet) and made it impossible for me to post updates. To say sorry, I've made this chapter extra long! A full 7k words worth of chapter! Woohoo! Also, I've sorta remade the first four chapters (** _ **not really, just some adjustments)**_ **and fit them into two. Check them out!**

 **Also, real talk for a second. I'm getting a wee bit unsure about where to make this story head. I have the general idea down, but it's shaky. Of course I'm not gonna ask you readers how to write my story, that'd be stupid, but one thing I want to ask you about is the pairings.**

 **I have absolutely no idea who to pair with who.**

 **I** _ **do**_ **have some pairings that I already confirmed and am adamant about, which I will list below. The rest, I would like your input.**

 **ChromxCordelia**

 **Oliviax?**

 **PannexHenry**

 **That's about it, I think. There are some more pairings I have in mind that may be overridden with a strong enough argument, because I believe this is about as much as my story as it is yours and I don't know everything about Awakening. The biggest question at least for me is "Who should I pair Nick with?"**

 **I was leaning more towards either not pairing him at all, or pairing him with Lissa, or yet another character that has yet to appear in the fic (canon, don't worry. I'm not about to shit out more OCs). So… yeah. I would like your input. The Q &A is still open by the way. However, with just one question, I can't do a chapter, so please, ask away! That's all the news I have, for now. Without further ado, here's what Nick would be like in Heroes!**

 **Omake: Heroes!**

Nick – The Otherwordly Soldier

 _*this is after chapter 18 of the fic_

Summonable as a 4 or 5 star unit

Infantry Lance - 5 Star Stats

HP: 16/17/18 = 33/36/40

ATK: 7/8/9 = 28/32/35

SPD: 7/8/9 = 31/34/37

DEF: 3/4/5 = 22/25/28

RES: 8/9/10 31/34/37

Slaying Lance+

Buckler = Escutcheon

Distant Counter

Def Ploy 1 = Def Ploy 2 = Def Ploy 3

Summoning Hero

Hello. I've stumbled through yet ANOTHER portal. While I'm here, do you need anything of me?

Friend Greetings

Being used as an interdimensional postman sure is weird… anyways, [Friend] says hi.

Castle

"If you ever need me for something, don't be afraid to ask. I'm getting bored here."

"You know, I never thought I would meet another summoner. Although I use cards, and you use a gun."

"I didn't do much to change canon, aside from a few adjustments. Unless the world I know has become the new canon. … Damn, that's a scary thought."

"I wonder why this universe is perpetually ravaged by war. Fates at least had an explanation."

"I wonder if I'll ever just stumble my way through another portal and pop home… It'll be weird to tell my brother that I now can use magic."

"This place is huge, and full of secret passages. You don't see these kind of castles anywhere else."

"Do you ever hear voices in your head? No? I guess that's just me. Luckily, I'm not even the most crazy one here."

Status page

4 star quotes

"I wonder if Roy's here… and if he's the one I know."

"*sighs*"

"I'm glad your gun only shoots out people. This world is not ready for that kind of technology."

"Don't tell anybody, but I'm supposed to wear glasses."

"Touchy feely much? Don't worry, we all have our quirks."

"Hmm? Do you need me for anything?"

5 Star quotes

"You know, this place is nice. With all these heroes, you really feel like part of something."

"You seem to know what you're doing. Could you give me some advice on summoning?"

"Canonically, you're the protagonist here. I wonder if there's some place out there where I'm the protagonist."

Level up

(+0, +1 Points) "Again…"

(+2, +3 Points) "I'm finally becoming decent at something."

(+4, +5 Points) "Huh. Got lucky. "

Learning skills

"Despite the fact that it feels like cheating, I'll use this power well."

Turn action

"Sure."

"I'm moving."

"It's showtime."

Attack

*grunt*

"Take this!"

Damage

"Gah!"

"Hnn!"

Special trigger

"You'll pay for that!"

"Hiyah!"

"LEEROY JENKINS!"

"Omae wa? … damn it, just die!"

Death

"N-no!"

Confession

"You know, [Summoner], I regret my decisions everyday.  
Every time I've messed up, every failure… it really weighs on you.  
If I could go back in time, I would change it all. Especially the many times I've nearly died. *chuckle*  
I'm not even that good at what I do now. I'd honestly say I'm below average.  
But despite that, you make everything more bearable, always looking out for everyone else.  
So thank you, [Summoner]. For everything you've done for me.  
However you choose to use me, I'll be at your side."


	16. Chapter 15

**Hello everyone, and welcome to the 17th (or 15th, since I merged the first four chapters into two) chapter of this shitty fanfiction! I procrastinated really hard to bring you this, so please enjoy.**

 **TheEdgiestOfEdgelords: *breathe in*** _ **Boi**_

 **Jokes aside, I wanted to represent the Toss skill somehow, and only distant counter came to mind. And most people already have it as their weapon ability so… meh. It's not like I'm gonna get added in heroes anytime soon ;D Also, if steady breath is anything to go by, nobody gives a shit about availability, so...**

 **Read and review, and let me remind you that the Q &A is still open so if you've got any questions for the characters please feel free to ask away! You won't get another chance.**

 **Chapter 17 – Finally a boss-fight and wrapping things up**

 _-the continuity of the plot?)_

What? I thought we had left off!

( _You can't keep doing this. Now let's stop breaking the 4th wall like Lilina broke the floor.)_

Ugh, fine…

So, we're lying down right next to the hole made by a Bolganone, concussed, battered and bruised by a dragon. Next to us is Roy, waiting for us to make any move.

(W _e're at about 8-10 HP, give or take.)_

So any sensible person wouldn't do what I'm thinking of doing. But I'm not a normal person, so I'll throw myself in anyways.

"What the hell, Nick!" Roy shouts at us, being the mother hen he has become for our antics. He launches himself after us down the hole (rolling on the ground to break his momentum unlike me) which I now realized was next to Emmeryn's room. I recognize it from the game, aside from the evident lack of, well, Emmeryn. There's also more chests.

"Come on, I sticked the landing!" I call back. When my common sense kicks back in I'll slap myself for this, I just know it, but until then.

"We need to get you a medic later, but for now sit down." His expression is one of a person who won't take no for an answer. It is unlike me to comply with this kind of requests, but I've already been fucking with him way too much lately, so I decide that it's not that good an idea to antagonize him further.

( _A bead of blood decides that moment to trail down the back of our neck.)_

Roy produced a Vulnerary from… somewhere. He might have had it on him this whole time, but I really don't pay attention to details. These, unlike the more effective Elixirs, are to be applied to the wounded area to disinfect and make the tissue regenerate faster. They are a mix of herbs infused with some kind of magic that speeds up the recovery rate of the person.

( _That's also the reason why they, like most inherently magic items go "bad" when put into the inventory. Books are an exception because they draw on the caster's mana already to cast spells.)_

"You actually managed to dent your skull." Roy announces from behind me where he was applying Vulnerary to the back of my head.

"What?!" I shout and reach with a hand to try and touch it, but he swats it away. "Look." He says. And suddenly, I'm not seeing what is in front of me, but from Roy's perspective.

( _We're in Royvision!)_

Anyways, the dent to my skull is… where is it?. It's pretty much just the back of my head. Sure, my hair is all over the place but I'm in a battle, I don't need to be fashionable. I'm sure that Lissa can fix it, if I wanted to.

Nevertheless, our body felt the need to puke as we're seeing this. We quickly snap back into it.

"Gah! The hell was that?" I quickly get up and step away from the puddle of vomit that is forming in front of us.

Roy, 'for a change', frowns at us. "I didn't think you'd hurl it." As he holds up the concoction. What? "You bastard! No! I'm not taking it!" I back away from him. The asshole shoved herbs down my throat!

( _Outsmarted by someone who lived in a medieval era. We've reached a new low.)_

I quickly dash into the recently evacuated Exalt's room. I probably should be more concerned about the ongoing battle but what can I do right now? I'm pretty banged up, confused as hell about a lot of things and the others should be nearly done anyways.

And then I see Marth lying on the floor.

"Oh no." I say, all humor draining from my face as Roy also notices my dropping any sort of playful attitude I had.

( _Did we get here too late?)_

I pick him up, holding him with one hand as I see that his HP have dropped to zero again. Who could be strong enough to defeat him and Severa?

But then I hear… snoring.

"The hell?" I say aloud as I stand up. I quickly walk over to where I hear snoring the loudest (which is still relatively quiet of a sound) to one of the chests. It wasn't even locked.

 _( 4)_

Doo doo doo doo! You have found The Exalt!

I'd be more serious, but I really can't after realizing that someone actually put Emmeryn in a chest. I turn to see relief on Roy's face as well.

"Seriously, but who thought that putting the Exalt in a chest was a good idea? These things aren't made to be able to close themselves from inside." I should know. I tried. He simply shrugged, before turning serious again. "Well then, it's our duty to make sure that the Exalt survives. We cannot leave her here until reinforcements arrive." Roy said, before turning to face the corridor, effectively blocking the entrance. "You should stay there to make sure of the Exalt's condition."

( _Which, from Mother Hen to English roughly translates to…)_

You stay there while I guard you both because you're in no condition to fight. That's adorable.

Anyways, I do as instructed and grab the Exalt bridal style before propping her against the wall. She's the lightest person I've ever picked up.

( _To put it into game terms, she'd be 3 in CON.)_

Also, there's none of the usual mana radiations that

And so… we have to wait for reinforcements to show up.

I'm bored.

I'm bored.

I'm bo-wait

"Roy, something just occurred to me." I called to the Einherjar guarding me.

"Hmm?"

"I was thinking"

( _A rare occurrence.)_

Shut up. Anyways, "Summoning comes so much easier to me than the rest of the spells. That is probably because of either (or both) of two reasons.

The first being that while it's relatively low output, it's constant. I'm fairly sure that the only reason Robin could draw on Einherjars for whole battles was that they were drawing on Grima's mana. That also perfectly fits my needs, since I'm like a low output massive battery, if that makes any sense." He nodded, meaning that he understood what I was talking about.

The second reason, and hear me out on this, is that the mana I use is the Outrealm gate's."

"What"

"Hold on, hear me out on this. Before any of this happened, I was a regular person. By my world's standards, at least. No magic, no fighting skills, no nothing.

Then everything changed when the fire nation attacked." I chuckled to myself. "And here I thought that you could somehow stay serious for more than 5 seconds…" he rolled his eyes at me.

"Anyways, immediately after getting out of the gate, I was already killing zombies like there was no tomorrow. Sure, I had no idea what I was doing, but that only proves my point further. Someone who could barely lift a sword in his old world, suddenly weaving it around like it was no big deal." I got into a contemplative pose, rubbing my chin with my index while my thumb was under it.

"So, something must've happened to me during that time clearly. Now, consider this as well: some "Higher-ups" sent… an Aversa, since there seem to be so many of her, to assassinate me tonight, if her word is anything to go by." He stared at me incredulously. "Yes, I know we SHOULDN'T go by her word, but I'm making a theory." This time it was my turn to roll my eyes at him.

"So, I was a happy accident and NOT meant to get into this world. Still have no idea how it happened, but whatever. That also means that, prior to me becoming a _soldier_ " I grumbled under my breath at remembering it "I was not granted any powers from any sort of deity. Even WITH my promotion, Naga simply gave me shit equipment that broke down after 2 seconds." Somewhere, far away, I could hear a goddess taking offense to that. Whatever. "If we want to be nitpicky and say that I got lucky, consider this. I'll be the first one to say this; I'm not fit. I used to spend most of my time playing videogames and reading fanfiction." Roy gave me a horrified look when I said the second.

"The _good_ kind, you big baby. I don't read smut." He sighed in relief. Seriously, who the hell did he take me for?

"Anyways, before we got derailed I was saying that I was not fit. Still am not, even though two months here helped with my diet. But back when I first arrived, I had no trouble whatsoever marching from night until dawn besides needing some sleep. And that was after a battle and a failed suicide attempt." He winced. Without missing a beat, I continued.

"So, the only thing that would make any sort of sense is that the portal enhanced me by channeling mana into me by using the knife I used as a socket. So, since I use the mana of a portal, it's probably the reason summoning comes that much easier and better to me. Do you know any other person that can summon people that are not just mindless soldiers?" I asked. He grabbed his chin. "Well, there would be her, but I'm not supposed to do spoilers… I'll just say "There is." and leave it at that." He replied, before turning around again to keep guard.

"Nevermind that, Anyways, if the mana is enhancing my physical capabilities and my summoning abilities, let's work with that. I probably should find a way to effectively strain my body so that the physical increment is even better. Maybe I could turn off the mana for a while?" I asked, but started talking too fast for him to answer. "And the second thing, magic… if people can be sealed into cards, then maybe objects as well, and even magic if I just…"

( _For the sake of both my sanity and yours, the rest of the dialogue is skipped. We'll now return to your regular programming.)_

After exhausting my ideas, I'm still left with a whole lot of nothing aside from stare at the cute face of the Exalt and wait.

( _Fun fact, about 2-3 years ago, when he was still on earth playing FE:Awakening Nick had a crush on Emmeryn. He has simply decided to put that aside because he knows she_ _ **has**_ _to die to see a happy ending, and even if she didn't, she's probably in love with Frederick.)_

I'm still not feeling her mana for some reason.

Roy probably also won't let me leave this room until, as he said, reinforcements arrive.

I wonder what the others are up to…

* * *

Robin had a lot of questions in his mind as he dodged a barrage of darkness shots. Just to list a few:

' _Who is this guy?'_

' _Why is he attacking us?'_

' _What does he want?'_

' _Why does he know me?'_

And, to top them all off: ' _Why the hell does he seem so familiar?'_

The answer to the last one seemed rather obvious, in hindsight. He talked as if he knew him so it was obvious that he was going to be familiar. Validar was probably a part of his past, if all the hints that he had given were anything to go by. However, as they say, hindsight is 20/20 and Robin couldn't focus on that right now, not when they were being brought to their knees and needed their tactician.

The taguel charged, trying to take a swipe at him with her claws and even seemed like she was about to hit him, but then he teleported slightly to the side and blasted her into the wall.

She began breathing labouredly, but quickly got up anyway. With all her might she charged at him to try the same thing again, but at the last moment she made a feint to bait his dodge, and slammed herself into him, using the occasion to claw at his face. He screamed, and teleported away once again to the middle of the room. She untransformed, finally revealing her "human" form as she smirked at him.

That proved to be a wrong move, because in the blink of an eye, the dark mage was holding her up by the neck with his hand while a Nosferatu was draining her.

"Tch, you got to take better care of your dog Robin. You never know when it can bite someone." And with that, he tossed her straight into him, who luckily managed to catch her. He laid down her unconscious, but still breathing body out of harm's way.

He turned around to see a scene that frankly would've been comic if the situation wasn't so tragic.

Validar would teleport around the hallway, dodging Chrom's attempts at slashing him down and firing spheres of darkness at him and the new arrival. He actually was left mostly untouched, save for a blast that was not meant for him but ended up leaving a weird corrosive stain on his coat. He tried to return in kind, firing lightning bolts, but they seemed to have no effect on the dark mage. If only he could provide a distraction...

"Milord, help has arrived!" shouted Frederick from the hallway, gripping his Silver Lance. He quickly charged at Validar on his horse, being slightly too fast (or maybe his opponent slightly too surprised) to dodge his charge. He screamed again, teleporting away for the umpteenth time. He fired a bolt of lightning where he thought it would land, and to his surprise, it worked. The dark mage screamed again, a pool of blood under his feet. He charged up a magic spell and shot it towards Chrom, shouting **"DIE!"**

The world seemed to move in slow motion in his eyes. He could see it all, Chrom's surprised expression, Frederick's anger, the blast of dark magic slowly moving towards him. But he was entirely too slow to save Chrom. But Frederick…

Frederick tossed himself in the way of the blast, much to everyone's surprise. His horse and him taking the brunt of the attack, they were slammed into Chrom, who stared at them in surprise.

If only he could do anything to stop this madman…

Hold on a second…

"Validar?" he asked, unsure. The guy seemed to know him, and he remembered his name. Maybe he could try to distract him while Chrom snuck up on him.

"Robin?" Chrom turned towards him from the other side of the room. Robin made a cutting motion with his hand. The dark mage's face turned from angry to triumphant. "Excellent, yes! Perhaps not all hope is as lost as I had thought… very well child, I shall let you live for now. But after showing up here, the atmosphere started to feel a bit dead… we can't have that now, can we?" He asked rhetorically. Suddenly though, he was cut into two by a very angry Chrom, who severed the dark mage's legs away. Another scream, followed by coughing. "I see… but you'll see, that you cannot change your fate… with my last breath… _die…"_ and suddenly, he fired a spell into the air. They all braced for impact, but it never came. Instead, a piercing scream erupted from a multitude of voices.

Robin opened his map, which unfolded revealing the layout of the floor they were in. Suddenly, all of the previously dead castle staff were being shown once again, but as red units. He zoomed in on one to see what was that about, and flinched when he realized what had happened to them. Panicking, he rushed at Frederick's side.

"Frederick! How far are the rest of the shepherds?!" The great knight was conscious, but bleeding very heavily and Robin realized he was missing a leg. There was also nothing that could be done about his horse.

He quickly got down to give him first aid, while the knight talked. "They're… not far. Milady and the others are slightly behind… I rushed in… hoping I could help more… heh…" The knight passed out. He wasn't dead, thankfully he managed to stop the bleeding, but he looked up at Chrom shaking his head. Frederick's career as a Shepherd was over. He got up, looking at the map.

"We gotta barricade this room. A lot of angry Risen are coming towards us, albeit slowly." He turned towards Chrom, ready to have his plan contested for a reason or another, but he was simply staring at his life-long friend. Turning towards the taguel, she was also unconscious, but her wounds were lighter and she had already stopped bleeding. She'd be fine. He shook his head; he was alone in this.

Looking back at the map, he saw that the huge amount of Risen weren't actually heading their way. Rather, towards three other dots who seemed to be hiding in one of the storage rooms. Zooming in, he realized those were Nick, Roy, and the Exalt. Thank goodness, not everything went wrong tonight.

"Chrom, you need to snap out of it, your sister's in danger!" He shook his friend, and that seemed to make him remember himself.

"Emm? Right! Where is she!" He shouted, a bit too energetically. Robin pointed at the map. "She's fine for now, but a large group of Risen are heading her way and there are only two people defending her. We need to lead the rest of the shepherds to their hideout." He nodded. It sounded like an easy enough plan.

In the meantime, though…

* * *

Ten minutes of keeping guard to Nick passed before Roy heard a cacophony of screams from the hallways. Turning in horror to his summoner, he saw that he was also on guard, gripping his lance in a white knuckled grip.

"What the hell was that?!" he shouted. Roy didn't know, so he silently shook his head. Luckily, the answer came to them almost immediately.

" **Nick, Roy, are you alright?"**

"Stop! I already have a voice in my head!" Nick shouted, putting his hands against his ears in an attempt to drown out the voice that they were hearing.

" **What? No, it's me, Robin."**

He looked visibly relieved to hear that, and said "Ah. Robin. Do you know what that scream was? Scared me shitless."

" **Unfortunately, yes. A massive group of Risen are between us and you. You have to run."**

"When we say massive, you mean…?" Roy inquired. They were still Risen after all, they shouldn't be that hard to fight off.

" **Around fifty, maybe more."** Roy paled at that. Running sounded a much better idea now. **"Actually, how is Emmeryn? I'm not hearing her voice. Is she alright?"**

"KO. She wore herself out by summoning one of my cards. What should we do?" Nick asked.

" **Hmm…"** Robin seemed to think about it for a bit before replying. Roy, however, was faster than him. "Get out of here. I'll distract them." He said in a no-nonsense tone. Nick opened his mouth to retort, but seeing the glare that the redhead was sending him made him close it, before replying "Fine." He picked her up slinging her over his shoulder while glaring at him angrily. "Hold them off as long as you can, then dismiss yourself." His gaze softened a bit. "Even if you don't permanently die, it doesn't mean it's a good idea, alright? Plus, I need you to talk to Lilina so that she doesn't try and murder me later." And with a sprint, he was out of the room.

Roy exited as well, finding a small army chasing Nick. Well, chasing at what little speed zombies could move at anyways. He put himself in their path, knowing full well that it was a battle he was not going to win.

"*sigh* No rest for the weary I guess. Come at me, then!" He shouted at the small army in front of him. In response, said army started hobbling faster towards him. Mages readied spells, archers nocked their arrows and the frontline charged at him. He tossed one last look behind himself seeing Nick duck down a corner with the Exalt in his arms and sighed. "I may not be as good as my father" he began, turning back towards the zombies "But I'm not to be underestimated either!" he charged into the middle of the pack of Risen.

Five zombies down and approximately thirty seconds later, Roy faded away in a golden light, a card clattering to the ground. Under normal circumstances, this would've not been a problem. However, one of the Risen, who had a blue aura around itself, bent down to pick the card up. Its actual mission completed, he faded into the ground, reappearing in front of a scantily clad woman.

"Thank you darling. Please, feel free to go back to the afterlife now." And without so much as a second look, a wind blade cut in two the undead.

"Thank… you…" were its last words before it, like the usual Risen, was absorbed into the ground, leaving behind just a golden card.

"Aww, are you lost?" She asked the card, holding it between her index and middle finger. "For now, let's head home. Nobody bothered coming back to get you, I might as well hold onto you. As they say, finders keepers!" And she vanished into the night, smirking evilly.

I stopped in my tracks for a moment as I felt the sensation of Roy fading away, cursing under my breath about his stubbornness.

( _Congratulations, you have obtained the achievement: Master Hypocrite!)_

Whatever. Now… what? I'm just running through hallways and whoa that's Gaius hi. Is he recruited yet?

( _Jagen, fetch me the blue paint.)_

"We gotta run!" I shout at him, grabbing his attention. However, something clearly must've gone wrong in communication because he now took out his sword and is pointing it menacingly at me.

"Sorry kid, but we've got a change of plans. The exalt has to live." And in a blur of motion, he slammed against me making me drop Emmeryn before cutting deep across my chest.

( _Did he just assume our gen- side?)_

"Nggh! Wait!" I screamed in a panic, hoping he would stop. "I'm one of the Ylisseans, you idiot!" I turned towards the zombies chasing me. "Shit, we have to-" I'm cut off as an arrow buries itself in my back, making me fall on my knees. "Take the Exalt… and run…" I gasp out to an horrified Gaius who probably just realized that he dun goofed. However, he nodded and bolted while carrying the Exalt bridal style. Soon, I can no longer see him as he dashes through the hallways.

( _What about us?)_

We're pretty much dead. At least we didn't fuck up canon too much, assuming the rest of the mission went smooth. And… death was my main goal, after all. Now… I'll just lay down… and take a nap. I'll probably just pass out, like usual and… then…

( _Nick, don't you dare give up on me now. We're not protagonists, goddamnit! Plot armor doesn't affect us!)_

Heh, you're right… I need to get up now…

Struggling to my feet, I summon back Uruz to use as a walking stick. The zombies draw nearer.

I need to leave…

 _Miracle_

Another arrow buries itself in my right arm, rendering it useless. Algiz clatters to the ground uselessly, my defense stripped away from me.

 _Miracle_

Thunder tears through my body, nearly making me stumble. They managed to damage me with it? I'm impressed. Black

 _Miracle_

An axe's blunt side hits me in the leg, luckily not burying itself. However, it has the probably intended effect of making my leg buckle under me, making me fall to the floor. Hey, voice, I'm glowing! So cool… maybe I'm evolving?

( _…Law.)_

Not funny right now. I mean, the zombies are probably about to r**e me, but it's not the case to make a Law & Order – Special Victims Unit joke right now.

( _No, not that. Call me Law. It's short for Lawrence.)_

Ah. My other name. It's fitting, I suppose. Why now, though?

 _(*shrug* It just felt fitting for you to know my name, at least in your last moments.)_

Heh. Okay… sure…

The zombies have finally made it to us. I'm still clutching Uruz like my life depends on it, and I suppose in a way it does. It's my last way of fighting. The last stand, I suppose, even though I cannot right now.

The one leading the charge is raising his axe, ready to separate my head from the rest of my body. It's raising it. And then…

The

Zombie

Brought

The

Axe

Down

On

Me.

A blinding light and I was whisked away from that fate. Who I assume to be Lissa (I'm not really sure right now) working hard on my body to remove arrowheads and heal me. Suddenly, a bottle of something vile was shoved in my mouth. It ran down my throat, feeling too weak to even bother removing it, before I started coughing out. I focused on my breathing, trying to even them out as somebody roughly clapped on my back to help me not choke after deepthroating an Elixir.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." Robin smiled down at me. I looked around and noticed that the fighting was already over, the Shepherds having cleared all of the previous castle staff turned zombies and were now either getting fixed up or chatting between themselves.

I stared at Lissa who was smiling at me, her blonde hair making me get the feeling of having forgotten something. Soon, it came to me what it was.

"Emmeryn!" I shouted in a panic, startling the both of them. "Where is she?!" They both realized that the exalt was nowhere to be seen before a voice shouted from down the hallways.

"Oi, looking for this?" Gaius called, appearing seemingly out of thin air with the Exalt in his arms.

( _I'm getting Eliwood vibes from this one.)_

Ah, Law, you're back. We've really made it, eh?

( _Yeah. Don't worry, there'll be plenty occasions to die like a hero in the future.)_

For once, I wish you were joking. I turned my focus back to the real world, seeing Gaius look slightly lost with the Exalt in his arms.

I quickly flashed him a thumbs up as the rest of the Shepherds who weren't being healed crowded around him. I let myself fall back to the ground with a laugh.

"We've won. We've actually won." At the time, I didn't know how wrong I was.

But I was soon in for a reality check.

 **That's it for this chapter. This is where things** _ **really**_ **start derailing from Canon. So buckle up kiddies, we're in for a fuuuuuuuuuuuuun ride :D. Below are the end of chapter stat updates and an omake, because why not.**

Nick

Otherwordly Soldier

Lv 14 Exp 00

Class: Soldier

Hp: 1/28 65%

Str: 14 50%

Mag:14 55%

Skl: 15 60%

Spd: 18 60%

Lck: 9 45%

Def: 9 (+5) 30%

Res: 20 (+5) 65%

Skills:

-Riposte

-Toss

Items:

Uruz Mt 19 Hit 80 Rng 1 Crit 5% Skill Miracle+

Algiz Mt 8 Hit 65 Rng 1-2 Crit 0% +5 Def +5 Res when unequipped

Supports:

Miriel: B

Kellam: C

Marth: C

Roy: B

Ricken: C

Sully (Heya Kidemonas): C

Marth

Altean Prince

Did literally nothing

Roy

Young Lion

Lv 14 Exp 19

Class: Mercenary

Hp: 32 85%

Str: 15 55%

Mag:2 35%

Skl: 16 70%

Spd: 15 55%

Lck: 8 55%

Def: 9(+2) 40%

Res: 9 25%

Skills:

-Dual Strike+

-Aegis

-Patience

Inventory:

Roy's Blade: Mt 10 29/40 Hit 90% Bonus +2 to Defense

Vulnerary 3/3

Supports:

Nick: B

Lilina: S

Lilina

Delightful Noble

Lv 12 Exp 00

Hp: 29

Str: 8

Mag: 17 (+2)

Skl: 8

Spd: 12

Lck: 11

Def: 4

Res: 11

Lilina got RNG screwed in everything but magic :D

Skills:

Magic+2

Absolute focus

Inventory

Bolganone

Elwind

Supports:

Roy: S

 **Omake: I'm a green unit! (Please, if you don't understand go look for the video "I'm a green unit" on youtube.)**

" **Nick, Roy, are you alright?"**

"Stop! I already have a voice in my head!" Nick shouted, putting his hands against his ears in an attempt to drown out the voice that they were hearing.

" **What? No, it's me, Robin."**

He looked visibly relieved to hear that, and said "Ah. Robin. Do you know what that scream was? Scared me shitless."

" **Unfortunately, yes. A massive group of Risen are between us and you. You have to run."**

"When we say massive, you mean…?" Roy inquired. They were still Risen after all, they shouldn't be that hard to fight off.

" **Around fifty, maybe more."** Roy paled at that. Running sounded a much better idea now. **"Actually, how is Emmeryn? I'm not hearing her voice. Is she alright?"**

"She's KO, tired herself out by summoning Marth. What should we do now?"

" **Well, uhm… I don't know."**

"You, Robin, tactical mastermind, second leader of the shepherds… do not know what we should do."

" **Well, it's not like I can order you around. Do whatever you want."**

" _You_ 're supposed to give us orders, for fucks sake Robin!" Nick shouted in anger.

" **Nope, on my map you're represented as green dots, so I can't give you orders."**

"Well, get to thi- hold on what?"

" **As I said, you're green dots."**

"No… It can't be…" Nick trembled in horror. "Up until now… We've been green units?!"

" **Yes?"**

"Welp. I'm off to do stupid shit now like charge at the zombies. Come, Roy."

" **Wait, what are you doing?!"**

Nick turned towards where he assumed a hidden camera was hiding before making a goofy face and in his best imitation of Mangs shouted "I'm a green unit!"

And then he went and charged the enemy, getting mowed by the zombie mob in 3 seconds flat.


	17. Chapter 16

**WHAZZAT?! A CHAPTER NOT A BAJILLION YEARS AFTER THE LAST ONE? *gasp***

 **I actually made these two chapters in two completely different occasions. However, they were both too short to be acceptable and timeline-wise, happened at nearly the same time so yeah. Enjoy.**

 **PLEASE READ: Before a shitstorm ensues I'm going to say it loud and clear right now and I'll say it this once only: If you want your review** _ **not**_ **to appear in the pre-chapter author notes, either specify it or PM me. I do read them. Any review posted** _ **will**_ **be answered publically unless specified otherwise or it's something I feel the need not to answer publically.**

 **Kidemonas: I'm going to leave it as a possibility, like for every other character besides Cordelia and Olivia, but… pedophilia, dude. Sully is like, 23-24 pre-timeskip and the MC has JUST turned 16. It's the same reason I actually didn't ship Lissa directly with Frederick, I find it weird. I'll consider it, but don't get your hopes up.**

 **Clutchvm: That, and would make Owain a not worthless mage in a possible Fates sequel :D but it's still up in the air, though most people seem to be looking forward to a Nick x Lissa pairing.**

 **Read and Review, and don't forget about the Q &A. I'm still not receiving any questions for the characters guys! .**

 **Chapter 18: Aftermath**

So… It's been two weeks since the assault on Ylisstol's castle. I'm 16 now, which is nice I guess? I found an elixir lying on the ground like that, and I was feeling much better than usual, ready to kick ass as if the event had just taken place in the game. Actually, it probably had, but I'm digressing. I never told anybody when my birthday was, aside from jokingly telling Lissa that it was on February 31st. She didn't talk to me for the whole day after that. Despite that, I suspiciously got the day off from Robin, and there were 500 more gold than the usual in my bi-weekly pay.

 _(We receive 1000G every two weeks. It's actually A LOT, it can buy you approximately 534 hours' worth of hookers.)_

The sly bastard. I spent the extra money in making some more steel, then transformed said steel into cards. We'll get to that later. I also bought a helmet, since I realized that head injuries are NOT cool. Also it'll hide my horrible hair until I can find a barber, since I hadn't realized until now, but I had let it grow for two months, almost three, and now they reached shoulder length with the upper half being my natural brown and the lower half being the usual dyed grass green.

( _Now it looks like we're cosplaying RD Nephenee with shorter hair and white armor.)_

I've been chatting a lot more with Law, now that I'm aware of his presence.

Things are much worse than I thought for a huge number of reasons. I hadn't realized earlier just how badly I had fucked things up. Where to begin with…

I guess I'll recap what happened after I passed out. Nothing major really, Severa apparently got the hell out of dodge, Gaius was caught before he could slink away (although I think he made only a token effort). His sentence, thanks to him saving the Exalt (and my good will in not pressing charges), resulted in him simply having to do community service, AKA being a Shepherd. Welcome to the family, Gaius.

( _It's actually a lot worse when you think about it. Guy literally got conscripted into the smack dab middle of a war BECAUSE he saved the Exalt. He could've gotten away easily.)_

Panne ended up joining the Shepherds since she does not believe her debt to the Exalt paid as she is… we'll talk about that later too.

Me, personally, I got whisked away to the hospital since an Elixir can apparently only do so much to help you recover. I was then healed personally by our favorite short short-tempered blondie, receiving a thwack on the head with her staff that nearly knocked me out. She was building up muscle.

( _Rito pls nerf staves)_

Then I was kissed on the cheek for saving her sister and wow I never knew that so much blood could flow to your face all at once. I only did what a good Ylissean citizien would do.

( _Which, for the record, we aren't. We were surprised too when that wasn't a requirement to being a part of the Shepherds. In actuality, we're treated as if we were an ambassador from a different country, which happens to be Earth.)_

Gaius then came in (even though I was supposed to receive no visits) to say sorry about the whole fuck-up, which I was mostly chill about.

( _We may or may not have said a few choice words about sticking a lollipop where the sun doesn't shine, but somehow ended up on friendly terms with the guy.)_

*snort* on friendly terms until he started calling me Shorty, but yeah.

Surprise among surprises, the next (and last) visitor was Phila. She proceeded to thank me profusely for my "heroics", at which I snorted darkly and told her that running away leaving a friendly behind is no heroic feat. She was surprised, and seeing the look on my face as she had reminded me of Roy quietly left muttering an apology.

Panne won't talk to us. I went and introduced myself and was promptly told to piss off. I think she's salty about me stealing her job in Exalt-saving.

( _Because she was doing such a greeeeat job about it.)_

Also, in the time where I wasn't hospitalized, I managed to procure myself some blank sealing metal cards, which I can use to seal and then summon stuff with!

The actual process behind it is… painful. Almost as painful as using actual magic, since I'm basically pouring magic and then sealing it into the cards, but at least I do this out of battle instead of doing it in the battle. Then I can summon stuff with my cards, which I now have… four.

( _Curiously enough, sealing something draws a pint of blood from your body. Like, you do the sealing process and a pint of blood flies straight out of your mouth and splattered onto the object you wanna seal. If you wanna seal magic, you need a mage ready to fire a spell into you and you have to seal before you get killed by the spell. After that, you get a card that will last for like, 10 uses like a Spectre Card from RD, only it's a "Wind" or "Fire" card.)_

We managed to get Miriel to seal a card for each element and a healing staff's use "for scientific purposes". I've found out that if I seal a healing spell into the cards, my lack of empathy will not affect the magic because it's not me doing the healing. So, I can technically use spells now.

What else to talk about…

( _We should probably address the three elephants in the room, yeah?)_

*sigh* You're right. So, the first and most important, even though all of them are, is Emmeryn.

Emmeryn is… alive. That's where the good news end.

Apparently, she has somehow exhausted herself to the point where she can barely stand lately and sleeps like twenty hours a day. She's fighting, we all know she is, but for now, nobody sees her fit to see the throne. The Ylissean populace however are glad as is to know that she's alive and well, but… it's still a heavy hit. Curiously enough, it was decided that the "culprit" of the Exalt's current state would rule in her stead, so Prince Marth of Altea became Exalt Marth of Ylisse. The people basically lost their shit over the fact that an ancient king came back from the dead to help them in a state of war and Ylisse is fighting twice as hard now against Plegia. Small mercies I guess…

This also means that since we had to take care of Emmeryn, we didn't go to the border pass and rescue Best Waifu Cordelia. That's a really, _really_ concerning issue. When Lucina realized this as well she stopped talking to me altogether and is now throwing all of herself into self-training, especially in trying to learn how to use Aether, which I had just assumed she already knew how to, but… apparently not? It's weird.

( _According to Robin's roster, Lucina's a level 17 mercenary who knows Dual Strike+, Charm and Armsthrift.)_

The second "Elephant" as Law called it is Frederick. Frederick, because of my negligence, got his leg blown up by Validar. I visited only once and when I did, I couldn't bear to look at him from the guilt. Suddenly, the guilt had hit me like a freight train.

" _So you didn't save them because you're selfish, huh?" Lucina said._ At first I didn't understand what she meant by these words, because it was not my fault the future me fucked things up. But then, looking at Frederick I realized that I am, in fact, a selfish individual.

I could've saved him. If only I bothered opening my mouth, telling everybody what was to come since I knew it in such a great detail, things would've gone so differently. Emmeryn wouldn't be bedridden, Frederick wouldn't be in such a pitiful state and Roy…

*shudder* I still don't know what happened to Roy. He just… disappeared. Without a trace. I've searched the castle far and wide, every little nook and cranny, even took Miriel and Ricken with me to search for any trace of magic that he could've left. Nothing. He just disappeared into the void.

I still haven't summoned Lilina. I definitely don't wanna be the one to break the news to her that Roy is gone, but I don't know who would. So I'm just keeping her in the card for now…

All these things came into consideration to what I'm going to do. I'm going to leave the Shepherds before I fuck something up more in a colossal way and do things in the background.

I've left a bunch of letters (written by Hauteclere, since I _still_ can't read) to the rest of the Shepherds so they don't worry themselves sick but after that, I'm gone. I can't bear to look at them in the face anymore, knowing how many things I could've prevented. And there's the Aversa problem too. If she's after me, who knows that she won't go after someone I hold dear and use them as leverage? So I have to leave, and I need to do it fast. Now I have to go and set things right.

* * *

 _Dear Chrom,_

 _I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly._

 _I've found out that the battlefield isn't really what I'm cut out for, and I didn't want to make leaving all the sadder. I really enjoyed my time as a Shepherd, and maybe one day a time will come where we will once more be allies, although I hope that we never will have to fight a war again. We will meet again, I promise, but until then, farewell. It's been a great time._

 _PS: Please, don't sic Lissa on me when I eventually_ _ **do**_ _come back. She's really taking this mommy role too seriously._

 _Nick_

* * *

 _Dear Lissa,_

 _I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly._

 _We've both seen, from the scars that litter my body, that I'm not that great of a soldier. Perhaps I'll find my true calling elsewhere, and when I do, I promise to come back. I wanna roam this crazy and new world far and wide, and see everything it has to offer. Thank you for saving my life two weeks ago. As a token of my appreciation, please take this Wind card. You can use it to fire spells even if you do not know the actual chant. Just shout "WIND!" and toss the card towards the enemy. It'll be pretty useful since I know Plegia has a lot of wyvern riders. Just don't use it too much. Also, Stahl keeps his cookies on the top shelf of his wardrobe. Hope that helps._

 _Nick_

* * *

 _Dear Frederick,_

 _I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly. I know it may come across as suspect, but know I bear no ill will towards Ylisse._

 _I would've loved to join your fitness program, if it wasn't too late. Please, go and speak with Hauteclere for a replacement of your leg, I'm sure she'll do a great job. Not good enough to get you running and do all the things you used to do (maybe), but you'll at least be able to keep fighting on horseback. I'm sure you'll be able to kick Plegian ass despite everything. I'm sorry for the loss of your horse, I can't imagine how hard that was on you. If you can't bear (pun not intended) to ride on another horse, perhaps look into wyvern riding? I'm sure that you can wrestle one into submission till it's Toothless._

 _Try to smile some more, okay? Chrom and Lissa really depend on you, big guy._

 _PS: Good luck with Emmeryn ;)_

 _Nick_

* * *

 _Dear Sully,_

 _I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly._

 _I'm really not that good of a fighter, and as the war deepens, I fear I might just be in the way. I've decided to roam the world and see towards becoming a better soldier, or maybe something else entirely. Somewhere preferably far away from the war. When we'll meet again, perhaps do you want to spar? I know you'll kick my ass anyways, but for old times' sake I'll enjoy it anyways. Also, you should probably wear longer hair. You're already pretty as is, but some people just don't see past the immediate appearances and see how charming you truly are._

 _PS: I've noticed how you salivate after Lon'qu. It's adorable._

 _Nick_

* * *

 _Dear Duke of Rosanne Virion,_

 _Yeah, surprised I know so much? I don't know what exactly you are doing here in Ylisse instead of tending to your people. I also don't honestly care. Just thought I'd toss in that I won't tell a soul, and may best of lady luck be with you. Perhaps you could woo her into helping you? Heh, I'm digressing. Sorry for such a short letter, but I've got tons of others to write. See you sometime!_

 _Nick_

* * *

 _Dear Miriel,_

 _Thank you for everything you have done for me in the past months. The amount of things I've learned about this world thanks to your tutelage will surely help me. I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly, but I've never been one for sappy goodbyes. Also, since I've come to the realization that Steel is different here from my world, I've left along with this letter a 1kilogram… I don't know, give it a sciency name. Anyways, if you wanted to research the material, know that it's iron whose impurities have been removed and has approximately 1,5% carbon. Hope that helps!_

 _Nick_

* * *

 _Dear Kellam,_

 _I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly. You've probably seen me pack up stuff to leave too, which is sad because I didn't manage to see you._

 _I hope you'll find a way to make people see you. Perhaps you should ask Miriel for some help about it, maybe you've been hexed without knowing it? Who knows, perhaps some quality time with her would do you well *wink wink*_

 _Writing wink is not nearly as fun as winking to someone in person is. I've got a tonne of letters to write now, so I'll be brief: thank you for everything. We'll meet again eventually, and when we do, I'll be the one sneaking up on you!_

 _Nick_

* * *

 _Heya Donny,_

 _I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly. I actually haven't seen much of you lately at the garrison. Were you drafted into knight training? If so, I'm sorry. Frederick's regime is probably destroying you. I hope that you're not thinking about your family too much, because if you are, stop. Nobody would want to see you brooding over something that can't be changed. I hope that whatever goal you set yourself to you will get twice as much as you hoped for, and I'm sorry for not being there with you._

 _Nick_

* * *

 _Dear Sumia,_

 _Sorry for having borrowed a pegasus. I couldn't just grab Zephyr since he's apparently now Maribelle's but yeah. Thank you for teaching me how to mount pegasi and ride them. I hope we can see each other soon._

 _Nick_

* * *

 _Dear Ricken,_

 _I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly. By the way, this is the only letter I wrote myself, and since I cannot read or write in Common, but only in Ancient, this is also partially homework. So, if you manage to read this letter all by yourself, kudos to you. I hope you won't be too upset about me leaving. I couldn't stay here for long. Keep this a secret, but I am a seer. There are people after me, looking to end me because of my knowledge. I can't stay there knowing that any of you will be hurt. I hope you will do great things in the future. I'm sure you'll be the one to restore your house to its old glory. I have faith in you._

 _Ps: Drink loads of milk. Personally, I loathe it, but if you want to get taller, nothing's best for you. Also work out._

 _Nick_

* * *

 _Dear Robin,_

 _I'm sorry for this. I'm burdening you with much more than you deserve, and it's not fair on you. But you're the only one who can do this. I trust you._

 _Under your desk and copious amount of paperwork is hidden a letter, containing what I know of the future. I am a seer, and too many times I have refused to act upon my knowledge because I was a coward, and I still am a coward burdening you with this. But I can't do this alone. Do what you want with the letter, read it, burn it, I don't care. But I need your help. The world needs to be saved._

 _Whatever you do, never, ever, ever trust Grima and the Grimleal. They're not your real family._

 _PS: Here's the resignation form to leave the Shepherds. I'm sorry, but this whole gig's not really for me. I apologize for the chicken scratch that's supposed to be my signature, but I barely know the Ylissean alphabet._

 _Nick_

* * *

With the letter-dropping over, I ran outside where I had "parked" the pegasus. "C'mere, boy." I mounted him the way Sumia taught me, and it surprisingly stood still and let me. I wasn't sure because of the fact that they don't usually let males mount, but apparently I was an exception.

( _Where are we going first?)_

I snorted as I took to the skies at a moderate pace. Mulling it over, I replied.

"Cordelia by now is probably a red stain on the Bottomless Canyon. And we know only of one person who can help us out now." I got the distinct feeling that Law nodded in agreement.

( _To the Twins' turf it is. Victor and Vincent have terrorized enough people as is.)_

I chuckled humourlessly "When saving villages from the bandits is only the side effect of your actions, you realized that something's fucked up."

And with the moon shining on the pegasus' armor and mine, we flew towards Regna Ferox.

 **Chapter 18x: Dry Rose**

 **Warning! Excessive swearing present in this chapter! If your jimmies are easily rustled, please turn back!**

' _The past month has been a fucking shitshow'_ she thought drily as she made her way south from her current position, in the west of Regna Ferox where lately you'd see marching soldiers just about every hour, preparing for the war against her home with a bottle of sake as her only companion.

She currently wasn't feeling particularly patriotic, she knew that her country was currently under the thumb of a madman and if things continued the way they were it would probably never be the same as she once knew, but still. It was _her home,_ damnit!

Turns out that she would see it much earlier than she had planned. Perhaps starting from the beginning would've been a better idea.

She was getting to the point where she started to _fucking hate_ her uncle.

After traveling all the way here, to the fucking Regna Ferox, fucking freezing her ass off to take a fucking boat to the fucking Valm to try and foil a fucking conqueror's plans, she was approached in the middle of the night by two very familiar individuals in a town near the Feroxi arena that told her things that she didn't want to hear about him.

She loved him, of course, he was probably the third most important person in her life (second only to Dad and Iñigo) but Gods help her, he was a paranoid bastard.

By now she had come to terms with the fact that he kept his knowledge of the future to himself, that he wouldn't let himself sleep, that the Royal sleeping quarters were filled with more traps than she bothered to count (to the point that she simply avoided walking those corridors altogether and simply warped herself in) but then THIS bullshit pops up!

"What the fuck does it mean that the plan was all fake?!" she shrieked, hitting Iñigo with her staff. He simply jumped back, used to this treatment from his sister by now, dodging her easily before shrugging. "It was all a bluff to make sure that Grima's spies wouldn't know about our real plans. At least on our part, I'm sure that most of the others' information was true." he frowned, thinking about it. "Belle didn't receive them either, but I guessed that was because we would be going together…" the girl next to him shook her head in sign that she hadn't received any information either., before putting a hand on her both her cousins' shoulders in a show of solidariety. "I'm sure Dad must've had his reasons, even if we don't know why. We gotta meet up with Owain and then offer our aid to the Feroxi soldiers so that they may respond better to the future war!" It was honestly a pretty sound argument, and she probably would've felt more inclined to agree was her cousin someone else. As it was, it was pretty hard to take seriously the bubbly who was struggling to reach the shoulders of the two brothers with her 4'11.

"No." She replied simply. "No. I'm sick of this shit. I'm sick of this cryptic bullshit that pops up everytime I round a corner. You know what I'm gonna do? Now I'm gonna haul ass to Plegia and go save my father from becoming one of Grima's puppets, something YOU should've thought about as well." She said, poking an accusing finger at her brother's chest. "Meanwhile you two are going to act like mindless servants to a dead ruler." She said, before her hand flew up to her mouth as she realized what she had said. The deed was already done though.

Iñigo stared at her with a frown that was a mix between disappointment in her and disappointment in the fact that Uncle really hadn't made it. He was aware, of course, that he probably wouldn't, but one could still hope. Belle though…

She looked like a kicked puppy. Had this been any other situation, it would've probably been funny, as she had been rather prone to being childish, but this was just heartbreaking. As the realization that her father was dead sunk in, tears started to well up in her eyes, before she started sobbing loudly. "But how?! Why?! He-he was supposed to come with us… we were supposed to save the future together! But- but-…" She wasn't nearly drunk enough for this. They had all lost their parents, aside from her. They all knew how terrible it felt, to be alone in this world. Suddenly, she felt herself grabbing her cousin and hugging her as strong as she could, though if it was for her sake or Belle's, she didn't know. As it was, Belle let out a surprised gasp before burying herself in her cousin's shoulder while Rose drew soothing circles on her back, the cousin completely unaware of the spell that was being chanted under her breath due to her loud sobbing.

"Sleep, Belle. It'll all be alright later." And suddenly, Belle fell slack in her hug as Iñigo shot a disapproving glare at her. She put her cousin over her shoulder, before turning to her brother "Where are you staying? She's heavy." She then followed Iñigo to the inn where they were staying. Pretty decent place, not as good as the royal palace of course, but what can you do.

"So, what are you gonna do now, sis?" Iñigo asked her, concern laced in his voice. He knew that his sister was headstrong and wouldn't follow the plan, but he couldn't just let her go by herself.

"Probably gonna stick around for a day or two, find the best bar here and get shitfaced" She promptly ignored the scathing look that Iñigo shot her "And then, as soon as the snow lets up, I'm going south and heading home, trying to find Dad. I'm not exactly sure where he shows up, but it was somewhere in the northern area so I won't have to travel too long. And I'll probably feel a sudden spike in mana once he gets here, so I'll just wing it from there." He sighed. "Can't you at least wait until Owain comes? I don't wanna have to break the news to him alone…" He whined, only half joking, but she simply shook her head.

"We've already lost him once, Iñigo. Grima's taken everything we have away from us. I won't allow him to do it a second time. For once, I want to follow my own heart instead of being a pawn at a king's whims." She replied. Iñigo rubbed his hands across his face before muttering to himself "Ugh… What would dad do in this situation?"

She knew it was a rethoric question, but decided to answer anyways. "He would probably cling to me like glue, not willing to let me go, before pestering me about how splitting the party is always a bad idea and-have you been drinking again, young lady?" they both chuckled at her imitation of their dad.

"Nnngh… Dad… no, don't leave…" the greenette muttered in her sleep, hugging the pillow with all her might in a vain attempt to keep her father from leaving. Iñigo ran a hand through her hair before sighing. "Well… If I can't convince you to stop leaving…" and in a burst of speed he grabbed her and hoisted her on his shoulder like a lamb. "then I'll have to kidnap you!" He said, grinning before carrying her out of the room where Belle was sleeping. Despite her shrieking of 'Let me down this instant' it could be seen that she was grinning as well. Iñigo then stopped by the counter of the inn before saying to the man at the counter "Hey, old man! I'm leaving for a while, can you tell Belle if she asks that I've gone to the usual place?" the innkeeper, an old man with grey-ish hair and a grandfatherly smile winked at Iñigo before saying "Sure. Finally found the one, eh?" He winked at them. Iñigo turned a bright red before laughing awkwardly, saying "Ah, not yet, I'm afraid. This here is my sister Rose." However, she started grinning impishly before saying in a sing-song voice "So you're going after girls again, dear brother? Wait until Severa hears of this…" Iñigo turned an even brighter shade of red before suddenly a grin just as devious as his sister split his face.

"Well old man, I'm actually taking her to see the stars since my _dear_ sister has a drinking problem and I have to check that she doesn't get too drunk, you see." This time she was the one turning a bright shade of red, as the innkeeper simply chucked in response. She slammed her fists repeatedly against Iñigo's back but the only thing that earned her was being switched to a bridal-style carrying, her brother still unwilling to let her go.

"Have a great night!" The innkeeper smiled. He eventually took her to a hill that gave a nice view of the whole city and the night sky, before unceremoniously dropping her on the wet grass. She pouted up at him "If I get a cold from this you'll have hell to pay!" she said, half-heartedly angry. "Yeah, yeah." He simply sat down next to her, staring at the night sky.

"This place is nice, isn't it?" He said. She nodded. "This is where I usually take beautiful girls, but today I had to make do." He grinned at her as she punched him in the shoulder, muttering "You jerk."

A few minutes passed by in companionable silence, simply staring at the stars. Suddenly Iñigo sat up and asked: "Do you ever wonder if they're watching over us?" She simply shrugged.

Silence fell over the both of them once again, before Iñigo broke the silence once again, nudging her with his shoulder. "Sing for me."

"Sing what?" She asked. He rolled his eyes at her, making a 'you know what' gesture. She huffed in return. "Why don't you ever sing something, for once?" She asked. "You know I can't sing for shit." He chuckled.

"Fine… you owe me at least a round at the bar." He glared at his sister before sighing and raising a hand in a "Go on" gesture.

"Uff… How did it go again? Ah, right." She cleared her throat obnoxiously in a last attempt at avoiding to sing, before sitting down and looking up at the sky once again.

 _Wondering just what would I, wish for on the stars above  
If a shooting star flew by, travelling across the sky?;  
Always thinking about you, and when you left me behind too  
Treasuring that promise made, kept deep in my heart_

To be honest, it was just a silly song adapted in Common from the Chon'sin, but Iñigo for some reason seemed to love it. Using his words, it was "Oddly in theme with our lives".

 _On quiet nights when I cannot sleep,  
Your voice is what I want to hear so that's why  
We just talked until the night sky  
Grew bright, with the morning light._

If she honestly thought about it, it wasn't that hard to draw parallels, but she had always hated the notion that such a coincidence would really happen, so she tried to ignore it with all her might.

 _Sitting next to you, as you're lost in your talking with me;  
your face shining so naively bright!_

Iñigo for some reason at this point grinned at her, as if he had found something funny. She glared at him as they both knew what part of the song was coming up.

 _You, who chases after dreams; and me, who's watching over you  
I know it's the very same, the starlight falling on us two  
I wanted you to walk on, without a reason to look back  
So I held back my tears, as I saw you off_

She noticed that at this point of the song he was simply mouthing those lyrics at her, and he grinned. She was starting to feel the tears in her eyes well up, but she held strong.

 _Wondering just what would I, wish for on the stars above  
If a shooting star flew by, travelling across the sky?;  
Always thinking about you, and when you left me behind too  
Treasuring that promise made, kept deep in my heart_

Of course, a shooting star decided **that** moment, right after she finished the song, to pass by.

"Heh, I guess you were right, it is thematic aside from one point." She said, sleepiness starting to kick in. Iñigo turned towards her with a surprised look on his face, before asking "And what would that be?"

She sighed, before replying "Stupid. It's the very beginning of the song." She could see the gears in his head turning as he made the realization.

"After all, we both know what we have wished for."

She leaned her full weight on his shoulder as he leaned back against her.

"Love you sis." He said.

"Love you too." she replied.

* * *

The following morning Belle had woken up, a lot calmer if in a slightly apathetic state. It was only understandable, after receiving such news. Still, it hurt to see the usually happy-go-lucky girl turn into such a husk.

At this moment, she was holding two miniature spells in the palm of her hand, one of concentrated darkness and the other one of fire, watching them lazily spin around her fingers and each other.

"You'll be leaving, then?" She asked her. Despite the guilt gnawing up at her, she knew that she couldn't do much about it, so she simply nodded. The girl lying in bed sighed, before sitting up. "You never stay with me longer than a week at most." She pouted, before turning serious once again. "I know it's important to you. I can't imagine losing my father… to be honest, this whole situation seems surreal, like I'm gonna wake up any minute now. But if you're so hellbent on going… can you at least look out for Dad too? I've already lost him once, I can't lose him again. And maybe… maybe after we've saved the world we can all enjoy the peace that comes with it, eh?" The hopeful look on her face was so bright that she almost needed to shield her eyes. "That, I can promise, princess." She held up a pinky to Belle. She giggled and tied her pinky with Rose's. "That I can promise."

The sands of Plegia. Home to raiders, bandits, Grimleal, common plegians, and the occasional mercenary. It also happened to be the one place that she could truly call home. Although a lot of time would have to pass before she could actually call it a decent place if her uncle wasn't about to make any revolutions in this timeline. She sighed.

She was currently situated in the northernmost part of Plegia, just lounging around in the desert as she waited for _something_. She wasn't sure it would actually happen at all, but she couldn't just disregard that possibility just because of the changes in the timeline. The appearance of a person in the middle of nowhere was a pretty big point, after all.

She spread her senses, trying to pick up on any human signature that could lead her somewhere. Any mage worth their salt knew how to avoid having their mana seen, but it just so happened that her dad wasn't the greatest mage she could think of (or just a mage period). And so she waited.

And she waited.

And she waited.

It took about three days of her staying there, simply meditating while taking breaks in between before she was able to pick up on anything. Sadly, the only thing that she managed to feel was a manakete's signature. But then… the signature of a few men. She focused on them, but much to her chagrin, none of them were her father. However, focusing on the manakete, she realized something.

' _Lady Nowi?'_ she wondered. Wasn't she going to get kidnapped or something? She didn't quite remember…

She noticed that the mana signatures had drawn closer, and there was some spell casting. The manakete took off, and soon, some of those signatures were shut down, simply evaporating into the air, before the dragon was finally subdued and separated into two, the dragonstone and the dragon.

She decided to try and follow them. Maybe she could try and free her or something. A dragon's help would be amazing in looking for her father.

So she stalked them. It was rather easy since most of them were being hindered by the sand and being particularly noisy. Eventually, they arrived at what looked like a natural cave next to a building, the one that had Nowi slung over his shoulder going in as the rest laughed and joked about their recent catch inside the building.

She followed the lone man inside the cave. It looked like, well, a cave. Faintly lit by torches, creepy voices that sounded like people crying, the usual. Nothing really worth noting aside from the occasional cell built into the wall. The man dropped the faking unconscious Lady Nowi into the cell, while she hid behind an indent into the wall, and left.

Rose ran towards the cell that the manakete was being held in, and raising her staff, muttered a "Unlock". The lock on the door, unsurprisingly, came undone.

The prisoner inside perked up and asked "What? Already leaving? Damn, I was getting cozy too." And right before she could tell her to shut up, Rose felt someone grab her wand arm as a gasp left her. "Nuh-uh. But your friend came here to visit you. Since she wants so bad to be with you, then" A kick to the kidney tossed her into the cell, making her let go of the wand. "We decided to put you two together. Ain't that nice?" The bandit sneered, before locking the door.

"Oh." Nowi, plopped back down, disappointed, before perking up again. "Hi, friend! Even though I don't know you. It was nice of you to try and help! Even though you failed. Want to be besties?" Rose sighed from the ground. This was not at all how she imagined things to go. Especially, she didn't expect to have a manakete talk her ear off.

Nah so much fucking owed her. She sighed.

Now it was just to wait for her father to pop up and save the day. It was so embarrassing…

 **The song that Rose sings is, unsurprisingly, 'Starry Heavens's english adaptation made by GriffinHuntress on DA (I think). I really love that game, alright? Plus it felt really fitting.**

 **I'm still rather undecisive for Nick's pairing. Let me remind you of the pairings that you** _ **cannot**_ **vote for.**

 **NickxAnyMaleCharacter**

 **NickxAnna**

 **NickxCordelia**

 **NickxOlivia**

 **Future Children pairings are also fair game, but I'll fucking break your legs if any of you suggests a NickxBelle or a NickxRose pairing.**

 **As for Nick's side, as I said, now things are REALLY gonna start changing from Canon. Robin doesn't seem much interested (or aware) in doing the paralogues, so Nick's gonna be the one doing them. Cordelia's dead as fuck by the way. What will happen next? Find out in the next episode of Dragon- The Otherwordly Soldier!**


	18. Chapter 17

**Read and Review, because I shoot up reviews like a druggie shoots up heroin.**

 **ARSLOTHES: Duly noted.**

 **Guest#1: Well, that's the main ship the reviewers are gunning for. Children aren't going to be erased just because a parent dies, I know better than that. Altering the past simply railroads the present into a new future, it doesn't cancel the after that existed before. Also, your review nearly gave me a heart attack since I thought I had messed up something and… I really don't see the problem here. Pegasus knights' main function is to provide extraordinary help and run people/messages fast from the palace to the battlefield. So what if the Exalt wasn't retreating? Vasto's group would've still ambushed the pegasi running messages between Ylisstol and the battlefield. The only change I see is that Cordelia didn't run away because she had no message to run to the Exalt at the Breakneck Pass because there was no Exalt at the breakneck pass. Cordelia fought, and sadly, died. The battle hypothetically took place at the Border pass (Maribelle rescue map) and was a huge loss on the Ylisseans' side, but not enough for the Plegians to break into Ylisse. As for Nick not reading the report of a huge number of Pegasus riders dying in the attack… first things first, as I've mentioned countless times, Nick is unable to read. Even if he were, he doesn't have the clearance to obtain that kind of information. He's just a Shepherd in training, and while he's above the regular soldier he's certainly no officer.**

 **Last but not least,** _ **yes,**_ **he was informed. What makes you think otherwise? He's just off (like really off) about the location.**

 **Guest#2: You do bring an interesting point of view. Reviews like yours is why I didn't go immediately "Welp, let's ship immediately". If you're worried about Nick and Lissa's relationship becoming stale, worry not, I** _ **will**_ **develop it further. For now, however, he's not even there with either of the ladies, so I can't exactly do it now. If anything, most of the shipping stuff will be done** _ **after**_ **the timeskip.**

 **Please keep reviewing! For now, the votes for the ships are as such:**

 **Lissa – 3**

 **Sully – 1**

 **Lucina – 1**

 **Also please send me questions you wish for a character to answer! For now I've received only one question ç_ç**

 **Chapter 19: Snow, blood and thunder**

I startled awake, my dream forgotten in an instant as the pegasus I was traveling on started dodging left and right, trying to avoid arrows skewering us. I looked down and realized, we had reached the Longfort, and of course, like good little underlings, they were trying to shoot me down because I was flying towards them seemingly with hostile intentions. I redirected my flying steed towards the ground, despite it being a tactically unsound decision, before hopping down and raising my hands in surrender. Lances, axes and arrows were pointed at my very squishy flesh, covered only by the shirt and pants I had on.

( _The cold never bothered me anyways.)_

'No it doesn't.' I agreed. "Peace, fellas. I only wish to pass by so that I can be on my way." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "I had fallen asleep on my pegasus and, well… didn't notice you." I chuckled good-naturedly. They didn't seem amused by the situation as I was.

An armored figure stepped down from the walls of the fort to come and greet me herself, her lips set in a thin line. "What is your business here, stranger?" Raimi asks. I now have an idea that will either get me inside or get my ass kicked. Possibly both.

( _So the usual.)_

"You're… Reimi, right?" I make a show of thinking hard about it, failing her name on purpose. "Captain Chrom told me about you. What, you're gonna attack a random stranger to keep up your track record? For shame." I shake my head mocking her. "And here I thought we could settle this like adults. Well, I'm not an adult, but still." I chuckled wrily. I was treading on thin ice and I knew it, but my sass knew no limits with people I disliked.

"Why you little-" Raimi asks. However, an archer from their ranks steps out of line to grab her arm before she could sock me in the face.

"H-hold on captain." A white-haired girl tries to placate the livid Raimi. "He-he's my friend. He's a bit of a dork at times, but he isn't b-bad." She then turns to stare at me. I stare back at her quizzically before it clicks.

 _(Noire.)_

And that white hair…

*sigh* poor Robin… but anyways…

"Hi Noire!" I smile at her, making her flinch slightly at my cheerfulness. She brought this upon herself though by calling me a dork.

"H-hello N-nick… w-what are you doing here?" She asks, a sly smile dancing on her features for a moment before she schools her face back into neutrality.

"As I was saying before being _rudely_ interrupted by Reimi here" my smirk grows wider as her face becomes red from anger "I was heading towards the Twins' turf for some mercenary work. Clear the place, make sure they don't do banditry, the usual stuff." I'm not EXACTLY lying. It's just that the reason I'm there is slightly different. The end result is the same however.

Raimi takes a deep breath, trying to reign in her anger before speaking. "Very well. Recruit, is he telling the truth?" she turns to Noire. She minutely nods, despite the lack of sense that it makes to ask someone who wouldn't know. "Fine. You will be accompanying this stranger to where he needs to be, and then you'll escort him out of Ferox not a second late. Are we clear? With this war we can't afford to let Plegians in, even if they're part of the Shepherds. Your pegasus looks tired, best to leave it here. You'll have it back once you have left the country." Wait back the fuck up. Do I look plegian?

( _Let's see, short and not-thin but not-fat build, green hair, slightly tanned skin, Latin accent, light clothing despite the temperature. Eh, you certainly can't pass off as an Ylissean.)_

Nuts. Now people will think I'm Plegian.

( _While we weren't listening, Raimi gave us the all clear and now we're sitting down in a private room in the Longfort before we head wherever we need to go, courtesy of yours truly taking over the body.)_

"W-what are you doing here, boss?" Noire asked eventually after a while of walking. I noticed she's not wearing her pendant.

"I'm not your boss." I answer curtly. She gasped, and turned to stare at me as I removed my helmet. "Or rather, not the one you know. Lucy, Rose and possibly Severa are already aware of this. Plus whoever they talked to in the meantime." I didn't feel like talking about this again. I already had this conversation twice, let's not make a third.

"O-Oh. Where are you going, then, if not at the ruins of time?" I raised an eyebrow at her. Was Future!Nick supposed to go there?

( _I mean, probably. Morgan's a wild card after all.)_

"I didn't lie when I said that I was going to the Twins' turf." I answered. "There's some people that need saving, plus it's my only chance of preventing Cordelia from being slightly more than a red smear in the Breakneck pass." She flinched at the tone used to describe a person like that. I was really pissed thinking about it.

"W-well, do you need my help?" She asked meekly. I shrugged: One could never have enough help. "Sure. You're supposed to accompany me anyways, aren't you?" She nodded. With that out of the way, we got up, went out of the Longfort and got on our way.

"So what is it that we're doing exactly?" Noire asked me as we took a regular carriage (stupid feroxi people stealing my pegasus) towards the village that was about to be attacked if paralogues were anything to go by. We were actually in a fake lonely merch wagon, waiting to be inevitably assaulted by said bandits whose turf we were about to invade. For some reason they placed a ridiculous amount of trust in us, only sending alongside a fellow who was riding said carriage and was going to flee once the attack begun, assuming we weren't surrounded. Bah.

We weren't there to protect the people, that was Anna's job, but we might as well do it. We're technically still saving Anna's ass from being kicked and I was going to cash in on that favour with the God!Anna. A bit of a douche move, I know, but not without reason.

Law had been awfully silent this trip. Probably disgusted with the idea that I'd go looking for lives to take just to save one. I know I'd probably be.

"Well you know who Lucina's mother is, right?" She nodded. "Well, she's also currently very much dead. We're gonna undo that." She gasped.

"H-how can you do that?" Poor Noire was probably wondering if there was a way to revive her parents.

"If we save Anna, the one at the gate will owe me. Then I can hopefully ask her to revive Cordelia and maybe we can keep some semblance of canonicity with the future either one of us is familiar with, although I doubt it." I responded, lazily twirling one of my locks in the air and frowning as I wiped the sweat off with a gloved hand on the back of my neck. I'm probably the only person alive that can start sweating because of the heat in the middle of a frozen tundra.

As if reading my mind, Noire stepped behind me and whipped out a pair of scissors. I have no idea where she kept them, but she quietly started humming a familiar tune as she began cutting my hair.

( _FE7's tutorial music.)_ Law helpfully supplied.

My hair. It was the one thing that could be said that looked good on me. At first I refused to take pride in such a "girly" thing but then I started taking the few compliments that came my way about as they were. Compliments. Nothing important. I was by no means handsome, but I wasn't exactly ugly.

"You know." Noire began conversationally after the song she was humming was over. "I've always wanted to try this at least once. But" her tone turned pouty, if that makes any sense as a description "You'd never allow anybody near your neck with anything remotely close to a blade."

I hummed. "Yeah, from what I've gathered, I was a paranoid asshole. I'm not really sure about the why's, but Nick must've had his reasons. Still, it's definitely not my style. I'm trying to be a lot more open and keep things simple." I shrugged, before muttering darkly. "Although I never seem to be able to do anything right…"

Noire didn't respond to that. She simply resumed her humming as she gave the finishing touches to my hair like trimming and stuff.

"You know, I prefer you to the other Nick." She said out of the blue.

"You'd be the first one able to tell us apart." I replied bitterly.

She didn't have a response to that either. After finishing up she handed me a mirror to look at my new haircut with.

( _Where does she keep these things?!)_

My new haircut was now similar to Alfonse's, a tad shorter and replacing blue and gold with brown and green. I let out a low whistle. "Not bad, Noire. Thanks." She blushed in response and muttered a dismissal. I continued to stare at the mirror, my eyes bulging slightly when for a moment I saw my reflection look genuinely happy, something that I hadn't had in a few years now. I sighed and handed the mirror back to her as that moment ended as soon as it came. We fell back into companionable silence hindered only by the occasional sound of my armor when I shifted in place, awaiting eagerly to go and destroy an entire bandit camp simply because they happened to be in my way.

'Law?'

( _Yes?)_

'When did I become… this?' I opened and closed my shield hand in front of me, trying to grasp at something that wasn't there. 'When did I become numb to the pain and suffering of others?'

( _You're not THAT-_

'Yes I am that bad. Even now, I'm going to kill a few dozen people, just to save one because I feel guilty. That's fucked up. Look at the Shepherds, instead. Risking their lives everyday, just to see the smile on the faces of the people. While I couldn't even save…' suddenly, my own hand flew up to my forehead and flicked it, resulting in a spark of pain.

'Did-did you just-'

( _Yes I did. Stop trying to make yourself the villain. The fact alone that you're feeling guilty and trying to get better should be enough, right? You're saving these people, even if it's not specifically for them. That alone makes you a hero. You're just not used to caring about people. Now shut up and start getting up, we've actually managed to reach the village without getting ambushed. By the way, you need to get up.)_

'I-right. Thanks, Law. A hero, huh?' I felt the sensation of someone shaking me slightly and woke up to seeing Noire next to me, smiling. "We're here, Bo-Nick." I smiled at her.

"Well, now we wait for the bandits to make their move." I said.

And so we got up and headed into the village. It was a small thing, barely the size of a block were we in a city. A few houses, an inn and a shop surrounded by woods who were in turn surrounded by a river. That's all this village offered.

The man accompanying us looked almost disappointed that we weren't attacked, and wow Feroxi people are racist.

Pretty much ninety percent of the population sneered or turned away at the sight of us. In Ylisse I had never seen this problem, although probably most of the populace knew of my status as a Shepherd or simply didn't care.

Now we have to wait for bandits to come fuck shit up. I wonder how the mighty Ferox people will react at the sight of a pair of 'Plegians' saving their asses. It was almost laughable.

I sent Noire ahead to get us a room in an inn, wishing to buy some food for ourselves at the only merchant present here, Anna. However, as fate would have it, today would not be peaceful as I was quickly approached by a man who was apparently contrary to my presence here. He was purple haired with black eyes, wearing a headband and dressed in heavy clothes to protect himself from the snow.

"And what would a _Plegian_ dog be doing here, huh?" he shoved me lightly against a wall.

"I need to buy some dinner." I replied curtly, already hating this guy but still trying to maintain a semi-polite façade.

"Don't play dumb with me, kiddo. You're not welcome here. Get the hell away, you Grima-loving freak." He pressed his point further by continuing to shove me.

I arched an eyebrow at him. "Ferox hasn't officially declared war on Plegia, you know."

( _Why aren't you telling him that you're not Plegian in the first place?)_

He's an asshole looking for a fight. He'll just make up excuses, at least if anyone asks I can pass it off as blatant racism.

( _Hmm.)_

He smirked triumphantly at me, as if he knew something I don't. "Uh-uh, kid. We're now officially allies of Ylisse now." He looked at me expectantly, thinking I would then scurry off and get out of his hair.

He was mistaken. "So you're officially allies of Ylisse, huh?" I looked at him in the eyes. He nodded triumphantly, as if having been bested politically was a reason for pride. "Well glad to know who my allies are. Now get out of my way, I've got work to do." With a hand I moved him out of the way and resumed my walk towards Anna's shop. I looked at the guy out of the corner of my eye, who was visibly shaking by now. "Stop right there, Plegian scum, or I'll kick your ass!" he ran up once again to my face.

I yawned theatrically, confident in my ability to best a civilian in combat. "You have a very weird definition of ally, don't you? I'm pretty sure a man from Ferox shouldn't attack a soldier from Ylisse." He was red with anger and reared up his fist to try and punch me in the face. It was painfully slow, and I simply summoned up my shield and blocked the attack with it. I heard a crack as his knuckles impacted my shield. He cried out in pain as I simply turned back around, sending my shield back once again to my personal dimension.

"You know, you're lucky I'm not actually Plegian, despite your brain being too small to understand it. Anyone else would've taken offense to being assaulted, despite how pathetically weak you are."

"You won't get away with this! I'm a part of the Feroxi army!" he cried out. I turned around to look at him dead in the eye and said. "Oh, Mr. Feroxi soldier, why then was I hired to deal with your bandit problem? You should be more than enough, right? But no. You're here, assaulting an unarmed traveller unprovoked, snivelling like a child who didn't get his way. Now get away from my sight, before I report you to the authorities."

"You-! You-" He began sputtering, but a voice I was very familiar with cut through the frigid air somehow dropping the temperature further.

"Jakey, enough." I stared at the newcomer who was glaring with all her might at my assailant. "He is a client, and a _child_ , and you're drawing quite the crowd. Go home, and we'll talk _later."_ Anna finished, still glaring.

"But Anna-he broke my wrist!" the newly named Jake tried to defend himself.

" _No buts. Go."_ And at the speed of light, Jake ran off, spewing curses all the while. I finally turned back towards Anna, who was looking at me with a finger pressed against her chin in their typical cute pose.

"Well, you were talking about needing food, right? Come, come! It's on the house!" And she dragged me over to her stall, muttering under her breath about how she was going to leave her boyfriend without a cent.

Curiously enough, Anna's stall had a lot of food that looked like the takeaway that you could get at a Chinese restaurant and similar. In the end, since this continent's cuisine was completely unknown to me, I opted to simply get some noodles, despite the fact that they were the cheapest stuff there and Anna had offered free food. I brought it to the inn and ate while recounting what happened to Noire, who went into crazy-mode and almost attacked me because, and I quote "I can't leave you alone five minutes that you go picking fights! Ugh!"

I slept without nightmares that night.

* * *

I woke up the next morning to the sound of shouting and being shook awake. "Come on, come on!" Noire shouted, alarmed. "Wake up!"

"Wha-? Oh, hi Noire. What's the shouting about?" I asked groggily. "It's" she began pulling me to my feet. "What we came here for. How much do you need to get ready? I don't think Anna can wait for much longer." She sounded a completely different person, much more experienced in this kind of situation than she looked like.

"Close your eyes." I asked of her. To be fair, she only hesitated a moment before complying. She had that much faith in me, more than I would ever have in myself.

"Alright…" And for a split-second, I was completely nude. The second after, however, I was fully clad in my steel battle armor, Uruz and Algiz at hand. "You can look now. I'm ready."

"But how-" she began asking, but I cut her off.

"Lots of practice. Let's move." She nodded, dumbfounded as we rushed out.

The village itself was fine, however everyone was rushing to block the doors as the bandits, a few hundred meters away, approached. I quickly counted that there were nineteen of them, all armed to the teeth and out for blood. Why did I feel bad for these guys anyways?

( _Cause you're an idiot trying to guilt trip himself into depression?)_

Yeah. I agree. None of that now.

"So, what's the game plan?" I asked Noire. We still hadn't been seen by the bandits… or any of the villagers for that matter, we could theoretically get the hell outta dodge despite it being a douche move. Also, where is Anna?

( _She's getting out of the village just now.)_

"Let's hide and see how it plays out." I told Noire. She nodded, and we hid behind a few trees, concealed from both the village and the bandits. Suddenly, we heard some voices.

"Vincent, darling?" one of the bandits began.

"Yes, Victor?" 'Vincent' answered.

"I daresay we've come across a village, Vincent." I peeked from my hiding spot in the foliage to see the rest of their gang taking spots around the place to ambush the village if need be. Smart, but only if they expect no opposition.

"And what a thriving little hamlet it is, Victor!" Vincent laughed, looking at how everyone was rushing to get inside, locking doors, boarding them, finding places to hide. If these two managed to get inside, none of it would matter.

"Indeed. I think I'll make for a fine bit of pillaging, Vincent." Victor hefted his axe on his shoulder, smirking cruelly.

"It most certainly will, Victor." Vincent smirked just as cruelly, staring at the village ahead.

"Well then, I believe it's my turn to do the honors, isn't it Vincent?" Victor asked, stopping to stare at Vincent expectantly.

"I do believe it is, Victor! Oh, but try and remember that there are nasty little rats in these forests nearby, alright? Listening in on conversations, very rudely might I say…" And suddenly, an axe was thrown in Noire's direction. She gasped, dodging it very closely before running towards the village.

Vincent leaned in to plant a kiss on Victor's cheek before leaving, laughing all the while.

( _My gaydar is tingling! Get away, before you start puking rainbows!)_

And get away I did, trailing Victor as quietly as I could. Eventually, we reached the village, where Anna was standing guard while behind her stood a trembling Noire who was fumbling with a locket.

"Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm afraid this village is closed." Anna said, sword out in a battle-ready stance. Victor laughed.

"Well aren't you a fetching young thing? And fetching young things fetch good coin. In fact, the gold you net from the slavers will build Vincent a fine home!" he laughed boisterously, confident in his victory before shouting.

"Get 'em boys! Don't kill'em all, it's bad for business." He smirked before running away.

One of the bandits approached Anna, smirking. "Now, now, missie. Why don'tcha come here so we can have some fun?"

Anna promptly responded "Careful love, prices aren't the only things I can cut." And dashed at him, slashing at his chest. An arrow to the head from Noire ended his life. However, an arrow quickly embedded itself in Anna's arm as I finally decided to stop hiding and charged at the bow-wielding bandit, impaling him in the chest with my lance. I finished him off by stabbing Uruz in his throat as another bandit made his way towards me. I decided to have a little fun with my new toys.

Whipping out my _Thunder_ card, I shouted "Heed me, thunder's fury!" a satisfying roar of thunder responded to me, and I threw the card towards my opponent.

( _Gold card: He's stunned for two seconds.)_

I snorted at the reference, seeing as the card electrocuted the bandit upon contact, either killing him or dropping him unconscious. The smell of cooked flesh rose in the air.

I quickly went to retrieve my card, since (sadly) they have to be thrown to work properly. I couldn't manage to make ranged spells, so I either throw and have to retrieve them later, or I slap them with it at point blank.

Sadly, the rest of the bandits wasn't stupid and started keeping at distance while waiting for the rest of them to arrive so they could mob us. I tried to get close, but every time I did either an arrow came my way and I had to shield it or I had to block a spell for Anna. We were pretty much at an impasse, getting more tired as the fight drew on until…

The ground next to the bandits fucking exploded. Not the Lilina kind of explosion that came from the ground bursting, the "Saitama just lightly tapped the ground" kind. I looked back, alarmed before seeing a rather impressive piece of machinery.

Mounted on wheels, a massive crossbow loaded with massive darts was being moved by… Jake. The same Jake that had stupidly attacked me. As he readied another dart, he called out to his lover: "Hey, Anna! Am I late to the party?" I grinned, despite everything, luck was on our side. I might as well add wood to the fire.

"Come, Lilina!"

 _(An unimpressive stompfest later…)_

"I… I see an open field, Vincent… such beautiful- *gurgle*" Victor's life flashed away from his eyes as an arrow from Noire reached his throat, her laughing all the while. I bent down, taking his short axe away and trying to stash it away for later study. The damn thing would just keep reappearing in his hands shortly after being thrown, and earned me a deep gash in the shoulder. My left arm was currently unusable and letting blood freely flow as I clutched it. The axe somehow turned to dust as I touched it, and all that was left to take from his body was a Goddess Icon.

 _(Perhaps you should care about the fact that we're dying?)_

Be patient, Law. Three, two, one…

A heavenly light came from above me as Anna used the Physics staff to heal me. The wound in my arm closed, leaving behind white scarred tissue. I frowned: it was becoming a problem, getting wounded so much in battle as a result of my lacking fighting skills.

I returned to the village to see the people welcoming me with open arms. It was good, because if these guys decided to finish me off there would've been very little I could've done, tired as I am. Suddenly, a merchant approached me.

"A thousand thanks, my boy. I fear what those bandits would've done, were it not for you and your friend. I am truly sorry for the hostility." I turned, startled, to see Noire standing behind me, looking just as tired as I was.

"I… it was nothing." I tried to channel my inner Lon'qu to gain some of his stoicism, but heat still rushed to my face. The guy laughed, seeing this.

"Nonsense! Come on everyone, let's give our little heroes a warm thank you!" And I was just lifted off from the crowd of people like it was nothing what the hell put me down please no sir I don't like being manhandled stop no help me pls

I turned towards Noire for help, only to see that they were doing the same to her, while Lilina had dismissed herself earlier, thankfully asking nothing about Roy. Despite everything, I found myself smiling. I was a hero to these people.

( _Word will spread about this, you know that right?)_

I-yeah. We'll have to leave soon, lest we get tracked by the Shepherds. I'm not in for awkward reunions anytime soon.

I stumbled my way towards the inn that we had rented the day before. The villagers had decided to throw us a party where there was a lot of alcohol involved. I had luckily managed to play the "I'm a minor" card and get out, but Noire was not as lucky and had remained, drunk her ass off and spouting nonsense about "Blood and thunder".

( _Noire is the angry kind of drunk. Who knew?)_

However, fate decided to hate on me, because as soon as I'm front of the inn, a hand snatches my head and puts in in a noogie.

"C'mere, brat!" Jake laughed as I tried (and failed) to get out of his grip. "Who knew you had the bite to back your bark, eh?" it continued for a few seconds, before he finally let me go. "But seriously, thank you for what you have done today. Were I on the end ofthat lance…" He shuddered, not finishing the phrase. "But you're cool. Not bad for a plegian, brat." He punched lightly my shoulder.

Anna, my saving grace, finally arrived. "Darling, cut him some slack. You know he can't help where he was born, we've already talked about this." He rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah, yeah, woman. I get it."

She then walked up to me and rested a hand on my shoulder. "Thank you for what you have done today, without asking anything in change. If you ever need help, be sure to let us know, yeah? Just don't ask for money." She winked at me, and I was left dumbfounded.

( _Huh. That just happened. Being the good guy really feels nice, huh?)_

Yeah. Yeah it does. Too bad I'm not one.

( _Here we go again, with this emo shit…)_

I wouldn't be me without emo shit, Law. That's what you're here for.

 **I was honestly torn while writing this chapter. It was either write a lackluster fight, and risk leaving you guys disappointed (plus having to write a lot) or not write a fighting scene at all and still leave you guys disappointed. I'm pretty happy with the middle ground I found. Also, I would like to know if you find the stat page at the end of chapter annoying. I'll try to make another middle ground here, making it a lot more compact, and tell me if you prefer this.**

 **As per usual, under the stat page is an omake.**

Nick

Otherwordly Soldier

 **Lv** 15 **Exp** 64

 **Class:** Soldier

 **Stats: Hp** : 28/28 **Str:** 14 **Mag:** 14 **Skl:** 15 **Spd:** 18 **Lck:** 9 **Def:** 9 _(+5)_ **Res:** 20 _(+5)_

 **Skills:** Riposte; Toss

 **Items:** Uruz; Algiz; Fire Card 10/10 ; Thunder Card 9/10; Heal Card 10/10

 **Supports:** Miriel B;Kellam C;Marth C;Roy B;Ricken C;Sully C

Lilina

Delightful Noble

 **Lv** 14 **Exp** 26

 **Stats: Hp:** 29 **Str:** 8 **Mag:** 17 _(+2)_ **Skl:** 8 **Spd:** 12 **Lck:** 11 **Def:** 4 **Res:** 11

 **Skills:** Magic+2 **;** Absolute focus

 **Inventory:** Bolganone;Elwind; Vulnerary

 **Supports:** Roy S

 **Omake: After the battle**

Noire and Nick had been staying at an inn, offered by the mayor for saving the village. Since Nick was exhausted, he had come back earlier than she did, since she was roped into a very awkward (for her) party.

What she found, when she came back, was unusual.

"N-Nick, you're on f-fire!" she shrieked. He looked up from the book he was reading to glance at her.

"Hi Noire!" He welcomed her as if there was nothing wrong. Truth being told, to him, there wasn't.

"You're on fire!" She shrieked louder, trying to get her point across. He simply raised an eyebrow at her.

"I am aware." And he resumed reading the book. She ran up to his face and tried to make some wind using one of the blankets. He sighed saying "That's not gonna work."

"Well, you're not doing anything about the fact that you're burning!" She screamed, nearly histerical.

"Yes, I know I'm on fire, you're repetitive. Although you're right, I'm not doing anything."

"Why are you on fire!?"

"I wanted to test my abnormal resistance over time to see whether or not it would affect me. For now, it seems that it doesn't. Plus, I felt chilly."

"So you set yourself on fire." She massaged her temples, trying (and failing) to make sense of the situation.

"What?! No!" He shouted, sounding almost scandalized. "I had Lilina set me on fire." Noire finally noticed the girl who was sitting in the corner, hugging her knees to her legs while reading a book on thunder magic. At hearing her name, she looked up from what she was reading and noticed Noire's presence, waving at her as greetings.

"Lilina, why did you agree to this?!" She asked the girl exasperatedly. The girl looked up, checking Nick's condition before replying with "He's fine."

"That's it! You're all crazy! I'm too drunk for this!" She slammed the door on them, absolutely and positively done with their shit.


	19. Chapter 18

**Hello ladies and gentlemen! Please let me remind you once again that the Q &A is still going, and I'm still not receiving any questions for the characters. Please work towards fixing such a heresy. Also, Read and Review.**

 **ARSLOTHES: Well if we wanna be nitpicky the closest in age is Cynthia being one month and a half older. Fun fact: in an hypothetical 100% run of this fanfic the youngest units in the army (after the timeskip) would be Morgan and Nah being fourteen and the oldest being Tiki who is 6000+ years old.**

 **Should I call you Scorin a guest? Just Scorin? Anyways…: That's more or less the intention, yes. The Aum staff would be kind of one of the worse (not worst) case scenarios if Anna can't revive by herself, since it would imply that only Cordelia gets revived and not her entire squad.**

 **PLEASE READ: In this review answer there are spoilers! If you do not wish to spoil yourself stuff, skip over the italic part.**

 **Guest 2: Trust me when I say that nothing is set in stone, I've been avoiding writing paralogues with anyone who hasn't clear parentage for this very reason.** _ **Also let me share a little secret with you: Belle isn't Nick's biological daughter. Surprising, right? Of course if he does end up with Lissa I'll make Owain his son, but the only established person who is Nick's daughter isn't related to him. Also when you end up in a completely different setting with completely different parental figures, are you truly the same person? Belle would end up being massively different because his caretakers are also different.**_ **As for setting up LissaxNick… I was actually just laying down my bases. The fic was actually supposed to have as possible ships either NickxLissa, NickxCynthia or NickxMorgan or no ship. Later on I decided to let it go for the most part but my earlier chapters are rather heavy. Rewriting them would be an issue too because new readers would have a different experience from the ones up until now. I wanna thank you because you're one of the few people who offered actual criticism which made me consider a lot of stuff. So thank you. Also should I remove your vote for Lucina then?**

 **Kidemonas: I never said that it would hinder my writing. I got myself a good reading after answering your question and I realized that if Chrom and Sully grew up together there's no way she would be older than maybe a year with him. Also I asked you guys to vote because it would be a more pleasurable experience for the readers, and the ship was never that big of a deal that "OMG I can't write this it's too much for me" unless you asked for an incest fic. Then I would've gotten mad for real. If people wanna see a NickxSully I will do a NickxSully. It may seem weird but I'm much more interested in progressing the story than seeing my characters shipped.**

 **Clutchvm: I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! Also, why do you believe what you say sounds lame or stupid? I asked for your opinion, you gave it. Don't dismiss your opinion like that. I'm interested in the feedback of my readers, and what you said was in no means "lame" or "stupid".**

 **Votes are still**

 **Lissa – 3 votes**

 **Sully – 1 vote**

 **Lucina – 1 vote**

 **Read and Review!**

 **Chapter 20: Mindful Exploration**

 _I am standing in a desert, the Shepherds fighting like demons to arrive at the spot where I am. I see Chrom, I see Robin, I see Lucina, I see Marth, and Ricken, Sully and Stahl and Vaike, Jake and Anna, Libra and Panne. Maribelle, Sumia and Cordelia roam the skies, even going as far as performing the famed triangle attack. Even Frederick couldn't keep himself out of the battlefield long enough to recover, bringing down the axe on anyone foolish enough to be under his wyvern. Who I don't see is Lissa, however. How could I see her looking at the battlefield, after all? She was standing right next to me, after all. We were here in the loving cares of a plegian soldier, who was sharpening my lance preparing to kill us. Each raking sound against the steel of my lance hurt my ears, both at the sound itself and the fact that he was defiling Hauteclere's masterpiece. He's the substitute for the one that fell at Flavia's axe. The ropes hurt our wrists as we were both kneeling, probably praying for salvation that would never come-_

Yet another nightmare. Law sighed; they had been getting way more frequent as of late, with the guilt gnawing at Nick for not having saved Cordelia. The boy was a mess; all sorts of suicidal thoughts roamed his head, him being the only barrier between the subconscious and the forefront of the mind. Perhaps he had been too hasty in picking him, but _Fate_ had forced his hand, making him come to this world as young as he was. This had actually been the fifth iteration of Nick, each coming to these universe two years younger than the last. At this rate, he would be grabbing toddlers from across the spacetime to save the world. Thankfully though, the fourth one had actually made some good progress instead of dying at the hands of fate. Perhaps, he could finally get to go to rest… maybe.

 _The first Nick, having remained a civilian, dying in the very first cataclysm that destroyed a forest north of Southtown. He had been unlucky, finding himself cornered by the Risen. The shepherds never even knew that he ever existed._

 _The second Nick, a mercenary, making it a bit farther, losing his life against Validar trying to protect the Exalt by himself. Confident in his unnatural resistance abilities, he had forgotten about the Luna tome._

 _The third Nick, who had become a dark mage and then a Druid, his creator actually, who was still alive. He was somewhere in an alternate timeline, 'The Future Past' as he would call it, where they had won against Grima at a great cost. He had created him to be of guidance to his past self, and so he did._

 _The fourth Nick, a pegasus knight who he had actually grown affectionate to, got so far. However, he didn't make it either. He 'passed the torch' that he was during the Divination with his past self, without him even noticing. He had promised not to let his defense down and not like this boy. He would only be of guidance when he needed to._

He had failed. The boy grew on him, quite like a fungus that he could rid himself of. He had wanted to tell him so many things about himself, but he couldn't. His creator had told him that they would have to figure things out by himself.

He let himself fall back into the void, suddenly being in a very far away place.

* * *

"Huh, you're back." Nicholas pointed out.

"Yup." He confirmed, not bothering to get up from the grassy plains where he was.

"So, how's the mini-me holding up? It's been a while since he came here." He asked, performing an impressive kata with Uruz in his hands.

"Right now? He's trying to gather material to blackmail a god into reviving Cordelia so that he feels less bad about it." He rubbed his face with his tiny hands in exasperation. Nicholas doubled over in laughter, forgetting to catch the lance that conveniently speared him through the head. He removed it without a second thought before tossing it back in the pile of items that made up Nick's convoy.

"Was-was I" he paused as another fit of laughter hit him, rolling around on the grass. "Was I this bad when it was my turn?" He asked.

"Need I remind you who exactly was it who joined the enemy ranks just to become their leader so you could dominate the world?" he asked, glaring at him half-heartedly.

"Hey! In my defense, it worked!" He protested, pouting. Law smiled at him; Nicholas was a very different person in death than when he was alive. He was much more carefree now that his responsibilities vanished, and he had actually started smiling again.

"Yeah, yeah. Now shut up and let me finish my report. After you launched him to Donnel's village, he" but he poofed away before he could even start. Nicholas sighed; that could only mean that Nick was waking up. He looked back at the house to check on the spirits who were currently in the process of having a fight between elementals; two of the three Sylphs ganging up on Fenrir while their leader duked it out with Celsius.

"Good luck, Nick… don't move in here too fast, okay? I wanna see a wrinkly old man, not a damn teenager."

* * *

A banging sound is what greets me the morning right after having saved the village.

( _Thankfully it isn't Noire who decided to drag someone over to our room.)_

I could've phrased that so much better. Anyways, we get up, summon up our clothes, taking notice of the fact that Lilina dismissed herself once again without bothering to ask for Roy (thank god for that) and go to finally greet whatever person decided that our door is their personal punching bag.

"Yeah? Who is it?" I opened the door to see a frantic looking Anna. "You have to help me! Anna was traveling near the Twins' hideout, and now they've captured her!" I was immediately wide awake.

"Now hold on, how do you know that Anna's in danger?" I asked. It seems a little surreal that not even a day after she was captured she already knows about it, since she was here the night before.

"She called the Annasignal!" She said hurriedly, before both her hands flew up to her face. "Oh damn it, I shouldn't have said that!" She said, kicking the wall before jumping on one leg holding her foot as the door proved stronger.

( _The… Anna-signal?)_

"What is this Anna-signal?" I asked. She cursed under her breath, before closing in and whispering in my ear. "It's a spell that immediately notifies any Anna in the surroundings of the position of an Anna if she is in distress." I nodded.

"Alright, so somehow went into the now twinless Twin's hideout" I snorted at the description of the place "and got captured. Now they want to sell her as a slave? Is that right?" She nodded. "Alright. **Noire**!" I shouted, making her jump out of bed and out of her room in two seconds flat. I love how the other me trained them well.

( _They're not dogs, you know.)_

Ignoring my inner voice, I said. "We're heading out. Anna's sister was kidnapped, and we need to set her free." Turning to Anna, I asked: "Lead the way." I tell her. The place's probably a kilometre away at worst, we can reach it easily.

* * *

Lucina went to grab her blade immediately after lunch with the rest of the Shepherds. The importance of meals and rest had been drilled into her head since day one of Grima's arrival, especially when they had neither for a very long time. So she made space in her schedule for them, even if it was very small. She needed to train, after all. She had become self-indulgent, thinking that the bad part was over, but no.

The news of her mother's death were a very good wakeup call. And when she thinks that this idiot, this buffoon let her mother die simply out negligence she-

" **LUNA!"** She roared, letting her anger take over. **"SOL!"** She tried to channel that anger into the blade, but she couldn't quite transform the first motion into the second and simply ended up hitting the target again, not managing to link the two.

"Damn, kiddo. Remind me to never make you angry." She looked at her interlocutor. Sully, Kjelle's mother and one of the strongest shepherds had been watching her. She had barely even noticed. She was too focused on training, she had to get faster, stronger and-

She had broke a dummy. Another.

" _Relax, Lucy! All that stress can't be healthy."_ Inigo's voice unhelpfully chimed in her head. She dismissed it as quickly as it came, however. She couldn't afford to waste time.

A hand suddenly made its way towards her shoulder. "Hey, brat." She looked at the older Shepherd in outrage. "I'm 17-"

"And I'm 20." Sully chuckled. "Listen, I know you're getting fidgety because of the war. We all are. But do try not to destroy yourself, alright?" She reasoned, sounding like her mother.

 _Hermotherwhohaddiedtwiceoverit'shisfault_ _ **hisfaul**_ _ **t**_ _ **hisfault**_

"Alright. I'll try to calm down." She sighed. She could see the reason behind those words, even if it hurt. "By the way, now that I think about it, I haven't seen Nick in a while. Do you know where he is?" She hadn't seen him in a while at the barracks. She hadn't _actively_ been looking for him, but she would've gladly exchanged a few choice words at lunch or dinner with him if she saw him.

Sully's expression turned surprised. "You haven't heard? He's left us. Said the Shepherd life wasn't cut out for him. He wasn't that bad, but I could see that it was starting to take his toll on him." She leaned in cospirationally. "Don't tell anybody, but I don't think the princess and Ricken are quite ready yet either. They're just kids. At their age I was… well, I was a knight in training, but I'm me, right?" She grinned down at her., before it died down "He coulda at least said goodbye in person, though. Disappearing like that. He was right, I'll kick his ass!" her anger flared up. Lucina, however, wasn't quite listening to her after a particular phrase.

 _They're just kids._

If anybody had told her this phrase about Nick at any other time, she would've smiled in amusement. (Not quite laugh) The idea of thinking about Nick a child was silly, laughable even. But now that she thought about it…

He really was a child, wasn't he?

An emotionally unstable kid, barely fifteen years old, launched into an alien world and forced to pick up a weapon to survive. Burdened with the weight of the world, with barely any idea of what to do and what did she do? She _blamed_ him, got mad at him for having let her mother die when the whole purpose of her journey was to save them herself. It was no wonder he had left! She had been too harsh on him ,and it was _her fault_.

"Hey, don't go all mopey on me kid! He's fine. We'll prolly see him in a few months. Now, the reason I came here: d'ya wanna spar?" Lucina looked at her.

"Sure. I've already broken my training dummy, I could use another." She sassed.

"Oh, you're so on kiddo!" Sully shouted, getting excited for the spar. Sadly, fate seemed to have other plans for them.

"No she's not." Robin sighed entering the training room. "Sorry to interrupt, but we've been loitering around enough. King Marth has a mission for us. We're finally hitting the battlefield." Gone was the goody-two-shoes that they knew and loved, this was the tactician they respected for his military prowess. They both nodded and rushed off to get ready.

* * *

Law sighed. He would have to go back to Nicholas later. He looked with Nick's eyes to see that they were nearing the Twins' hideout; it would be another probably one-sided battle, but one could never know. He popped his fingers, hearing the satisfying crack that he knew was only a figment of his imagination, but relaxed him nonetheless. He got seated into the armchair that didn't quite reach the controls thanks to his eight-year old looking body until it lifted up in the air.

"Alright, let's see. Dropping **Remorse** down to minimum, just a hint of **Bloodlust** and... sassing the bandits would be a bad idea. Let's cut that as well." He begun pulling levers, and suddenly, Nick was ready to fight. Sure, he wasn't that good of a fighter, most of the work was being done by his lance, but for now it would suffice. It would cause him a killer headache when he started to return them to regular levels, but that was to be expected.

Now, onto slaying bandits.

The battle was, once again, painfully one-sided. The bandits were poorly equipped aside from one mage who held an Arcwind tome. Nick opened it gingerly, uncaring of the battlefield's active state before sighing when he realized that it was written in the New Language and chucking it at Lilina. The bandits had next to no military training aside from their leader, and were drunk as they were celebrating their new catch. They hadn't harmed Anna, aside from holding her hostage before a dart from Jake, who had foregone the ballista in favour of a crossbow finished their leader. He had actually dropped the bloodlust altogether and let a hint of remorse come back, as he found out that the boy by himself felt surprisingly little. That was… good. He was getting used to it. Perhaps in a year or two he would be a decent soldier… but for now, he would have to make do with simply having broken (in the good sense) equipment and next to no training.

( _What are you going to do now that we've rescued her?)_

"Anna, do you have any way of contacting your sister at the gate? I have business with her." His "host" asked, making them both freeze up.

( _Real smooth.)_

"What do you need of her?" The Anna that they had just rescued replied in a defensive manner, almost hostile. As hostile as someone rubbing their wrists from rope burns can look, anyways.

Nick sighed. "I need to ask a favour of her." The first Anna was about to reply when the other simply put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head. She frowned and said "Fine." She pulled out an orb from her satchel and swapped the one that was currently sitting atop of her staff, the mend one. "Bye Noire! Sorry for getting you in trouble with Reimi!" He cheerfully says with a shit-eating grin. She then raised her staff and, without so much as a blink, Nick was no longer there.

 **A bit shorter than what I'm used to, but I'm satisfied with this chapter. Some rather needed insight on Law's character, who he is and what he's here for. Also, remember to send questions for the Q &A.**


	20. Chapter 19

**Scorin: I guess. I was testing out different POVs than the one from my character and got a little carried away.**

 **Guest 2: Quartermaster fic…? Uhm…?**

 **Also, per se I wasn't setting up more than Nick and Lissa because we didn't get to see the rest of the characters and I already changed my mind. Also, Nickcina is horrible. It would be called Luck. OwO**

 **E-50MasterRace: Aight.**

 **Undeadmonkey8: :D I'm glad my story is comprehensible. I try hard to make sure that everything makes sense, even though a lot of stuff apparently slips me. As for the second point… I wouldn't call it "leaning", it's more like "gently bashing it with a hammer". That's also part of the reason the Annas hate Nick. I'll try my best to make the POV switches more apparent.**

 **Squeaky Floorboard: I see what you mean. Romance wasn't going to be a big part of the fic anyways but, yanno. A vote's a vote.**

 **Current votes:**

 **Lissa: 3**

 **Lucina: 3**

 **No Pairing: 2**

 **Sully: 1**

 **You are a reader. That's good, isn't it? But let's take it to the next step. Become a Reviewer.**

 **EDIT: I had apparently forgotten to add line breaks and it was really fucking confusing. Thanks to Guest 2 for making me notice that I'm a piece of garbage who forgets to add them!**

 **Chapter 21: Pain**

I'm currently standing in a rather… cosmic tearoom. There's no other way to explain it, the pattern of the walls, ceiling and floor is a starry sky which has as its only furniture two chairs, both occupied at the moment, and a table which has two cups and a kettle in between. It's all very nice, were it not for the very angry red-head staring at me, wearing nothing but a towel to hide her modesty. It's a rather confusing thing, this gamble I'm taking.

( **GAMBLING GAMBLING GAMBLING-** )

Hush! Now it's not the time to meme. I mean it's always the time to meme so long as it doesn't kill you, but right now it just might.

"Could you tell me just what was so important that one of my sisters had to warp you to this cosmic plane to talk to me? It better be a very good reason, or you'll find that I can cut much more than prices and dimensions apart." I cringed at the phantom pain while imagining what she would do before sighing.

"I need to ask a favour of you." I said evenly, letting as little emotion in my tone as I could.

"A favour." Anna deadpanned. "A favour." She repeated, seemingly growing angrier before her tone dropped to a saccharine voice. "Tell me, on a scale from one to ten, how attached are you to your arm?" I recognized that line. Bad stuff was about to happen, but sadly, she didn't seem like the kind of person to take my silence as an answer. "Ten, and I would like it to stay that way for the foreseeable future before AAGH-" I grit my teeth as my arm was severed by a wind blade on everything minus one small tendon which was holding strong to keep my arm attached to myself while I was bleeding profusely.

"This better be reasonable if you want that arm to be fine once again." I didn't know why she hated me so much, so I wanted to be quick and pray for the best. I summoned the heal tag before grabbing my arm and putting it back in place before dumping all ten uses of the heal, effectively reattaching the arm as the card shattered. The pain didn't fade, if anything it became stronger. Tears stinged at my eyes as I muttered a string of curses in every language I knew as my breathing accelerated. I was hyperventilating, I knew that, but I couldn't do anything about it. Anna began readying another wind blade as I dropped to my knees clutching desperately my arm before everything felt as if I had shut down. Soon, however, I was ejected from my own body and I found myself staring at a bright blue sky while lying down on a grassy plain. The pain didn't subside at all, but I found some sort of peace from staring up at the sky and soon my breathing evened.

A figure decided to lay down next to me, the only clear feature to my tears filled eyes being the bright mop of green hair. We actually looked sorta different now that I changed my style, but similar enough to pass off as brothers.

"Are you alright?" Nicholas asked. Biting my tongue till I actually drew blood to avoid insulting him, I instead let out a strangled "What do you think?"

He sighed. "Well, since I'm finally meeting you for real, introductions are in order. I'm Nick, and you're also Nick. I don't know if you remember the method we used to distinct ourselves." I nodded.

"So, you're here. Care to share what happened?" He effortlessly picked me up and sat him down, rubbing soothing circles on my back while muttering something strange. He eventually guided away my hand which held my arm in a death grip before a glowing hand settled on it.

"This was done messily. Did you heal yourself?" I nodded, before gasping as a spike of pain lanced through my arm once again. I tried to grab it once again, but Nicholas held my hand in a steel grip refusing to let me touch it.

He summoned a sword from the ever growing pile of stuff that was on the ground. "W-what are you gonna do with that?!" I asked in fear. Having my arm cut off TWICE was not in the plans.

"Celsius, Sephie! C'mere!" He called to the spirits completely ignoring me, who I noticed by now were battling against one another. The two both jumped back at being called, staring dead into the eyes of each other before nodding and releasing their battle stances. When they arrived, Sephie was looking at me weirdly while Celsius was looking furious.

"Did he die already?" Sephie asked with as much nonchalance as humanly (spiritly?) possible. Nicholas shook his head.

"No, but he came damn close. Lawrence's in charge of his body right now. Now, I need you to heal him up as soon as I cut his arm." What?!

I turned to him, afraid of what he would do before he sighed. "You've healed incorrectly your arm. If you want it to be any sort of functional anytime soon, I'll need to fix this mess." I gulped, imagining losing my arm completely. But the alternative…

I shook my head vigorously. Sadly, it seemed like I didn't have an option, because he simply grabbed my arm without letting go. "Celsius, numb him down." She mock-saluted before grinning sadistically "This is for forgetting me in here for weeks! _Go numb to your very bones!_ Frost Ozma _!"_ And with the chant from a rather questionable game I felt the cold seep into my body. I felt my natural resistance fight against it like it had done any other time I was attacked, but it was being overwhelmed. Soon, my body began to freeze over and tremble and then-

 _Shink!_

A sword was brought down upon my arm as I stared at it. I feel like I should be shocked, but I cannot feel much of anything now. The numbness wasn't only to my body, it was also to my mind, the coldness taking over inch by inch.

"Reattach it." I deadpanned. Sephie nodded before starting to work her healing magic (which I didn't know she possessed) as my arm was reattached. I felt the feeling of fatigue as my body worked alongside hers to make me a functional human once again and fell on the ground once again, about to pass out. However, no matter how much I tried to effectively pass out I found out that I couldn't.

"You wanna pass out while already being knocked out?" Law asked, amused. "Fuck you." I replied. He chuckled and lied down on the grass next to me, waving a hand in dismissal for the spirits to leave. In the distance, I saw Fairess and Yutis looking smug over a hogtied Fenrir who tried to snap their jaws at them.

As my feelings started to return, I was presented with a peculiar request.

"Tell me of your travels up until now." He asked. "Law didn't get to report to me since he had to deal with you, so you're now stuck until he's done using your body." I pondered over the question for all of two seconds before "No. It's your fault I'm stuck in here, since you didn't save the Annas for God Naga Kami knows what reason, so you're the one who has to tell me a story." I know I was acting like a child but honestly, I was so done with everything. The gravity of the situation was catching up to me, and I was slowly going insane.

"Fine." He pouted at me before gaining a wise quality to his face. "This is a story of fallen kings, broken friendship and a chess game." He began.

* * *

" _Get into the portal, everyone!" Nick shouted, desperately cutting through horde after horde of Risen just to buy them enough time. One after another they went, trying not to notice that this was their final goodbye. Until the last one, dear Rosie, clutched to him like a child until she was forced to go in as well. He hoped that the slightly delayed entering wouldn't be a bother to her._

 _Finally, the portal closed behind him. Only then did he stop. Only then, he allowed himself to stop killing the Risen. There was no longer a reason to. He had won. He had lost._

 _The risen stopped attacking him as well, looking curiously at him almost as if they had a soul, and Roy was looking at him torn between pity and understanding. A flick of his wrist meant that Roy was no longer there, instead returning to a pocket that he had specifically made for his Einherjar._

 _A giggle tore its way out of his lips, growing to a chuckle till it became a full blown laughing fit while he crashed to his knees while looking at the sky, the ever present giant dragon looking back at him. It was a hollow, broken sound created by a hollow, broken man. Somehow that thought made him laugh even harder. Archers had their bows pointed at him by now, but he paid them no mind. He knew that they wouldn't, couldn't kill him, even if he had no energy to move. He felt completely and utterly drained._

 _After regaining his bearings, he began thinking about his whole adventure. It was curious how he had went from studying in a college to being a regular footsoldier, grow up in the societal ranking that Plegia held before becoming what was known as Nicholas, Wings of Terror and King of Plegia before he became… this and the world started crashing around him. Not much 'Wings' now that he had sent Zephyr away anyways._

" _Marth, Boey, Merric, Arden, Finn, Roy, Nino, Marisa, Mia, Micaiah, Catria, Linde, Corrin" He chuckled at the last one, still not believing that he got his hands on an Einherjar from a later game. "I set you free from your contract. You now belong to nobody." And with that he had sealed the deal. He was truly alone now._

 _He felt the smooth sensation of the wind gently caressing him, trying to comfort him, to steady him but it was too late by now. There wasn't much left to comfort anyways._

 _He felt the eerily familiar sensation of dark magic being used in the surroundings as a Druid appeared. Couldn't have been older than fifteen, the boy looking at him in disdain. "Father wishes to see you." And without asking for any sort of permission, not that he needed any, grabbed his wrist and teleported him to Robin._

' _Being warped always sucks' he thought drily as he thankfully managed to maintain his stomach into his body. He would've said lunch, but it was such a rare occurrence when he ate nowadays. He looked at the room he was in. His old home, specifically Plegia castle's throne room. He felt the sensation of being at home, staring at his throne where currently a raven haired girl was lazily petting a wyvern while reading a book._

" _So you've finally done it." Robin commented behind him. "You know, I would never have guessed that the plan you had actually mentioned seeing in the future would be the one you chose." He bent down to pick Nick up, letting him put most of his weight onto him despite the fact that he could just lift him up._

" _Well, you know what they say." Nick chuckled painfully. "Why fix what isn't broken." Robin let out a hum of agreement. Slowly, but steadily, he carried Nick to the throne where Morgan and Linfan both stood across from him staring. "Well, my old friend. We should finish this." He said once seated. Right now he felt much older than he was. Robin snapped his fingers and in between them appeared what appeared to be a chess board. It indeed was one, but its significance was more symbolic than that._

 _On Nick's side, a lone blue King stood surrounded on every side by red Pawns who flooded the board. He was doomed, anyone who knew chess' rules would know it. "You're cruel, you know that?" He looked at the piece and with a single poke, it fell._

" _It shouldn't have been this way." Robin said._

" _No, it shouldn't." Nick easily agreed._

" _For someone who shouldn't have existed, you were a thorn in my side for the longest time, you know that?" Robin pointed out. Nick let out another hollow laugh at that._

" _You know what they say about roaches, they're the hardest to kill."_

 _Robin didn't answer that, instead staring at him for several seconds._

" _I've won. I've actually won." He said, although it sounded more like a question._

" _Indeed." Nick answered. He stared back at his adversary, who had long since accepted the idea of being a dark god and was a lot less raging than the one in canon._

" _It shouldn't have been this way." Robin repeated._

" _No, it shouldn't have been." Nick easily agreed once again._

 _For what felt like an eternity, they were just staring back at each other, the victor and the loser with neither feeling like the winner in this situation._

" _I shall make this quick." Robin finally said._

" _Thank you." Nick breathed out of relief, closing his eyes. For several seconds, nothing happened until he felt the hum of a massive amount of mana being charged up._

 _And soon, Nick was no more._

"Woah." I said. "That's rough." The feelings had returned to me, thankfully without the shock of my arm being cut off twice before I said. "Wait, did the magic affect my physical body as well? I haven't thinked of it until now." He asked. Nicholas nodded before flicking his nose, muttering a 'thought'. "Phew. So Robin was a lot less Grima than in the original timeline? That's interesting." I nodded once again, glad that this trainwreck of a situation was over. "Now will you tell me what happened?" This time it was my turn to pout, crossing my arms over his chest in a childish way before a great joy filled me at the fact that my arm worked once again. "Fine. After I left, with my mind still more blank than Sora and Shiro combined, I saw this kid running towards me…

* * *

The child in front of her was clearly in a traumatic shock, she knew it, but she couldn't bring herself to care about it. Not after what his other iterations had done to her family. Suddenly, however, he stopped crying, wiped a hand (the one that hadn't just been freshly reattached) over his face to remove the tears and snot that had welled up and looked up at her.

"Anna. What the fuck?" Someone else asked. She shrugged.

"I wouldn't have let him die. Besides, this was payback for not saving my sisters in the other timelines. Just because he saved them once doesn't mean he gets to bother me for favours." She said, an air of dark nonchalance hanging around her. A part of her mind thought with childlike glee that she could manage to be intimidating even with a towel hung around her chest, but she quickly squashed it down. It wasn't the time for divine insanity.

Law seemed to ponder over her words before sighing. "He's really different from the rest, you know. He's really trying to set things right. Plus, you _really_ owe him now."

"Oh, I do? And for what?" She was genuinely curious about what could a mere mortal say that could sway a god?

"Gods aren't allowed to interfere with the mortal plane. It's the very reason you haven't saved them yourself right?" She nodded. What did this have to do with oh no

Nick smirked as he saw the realization dawn upon her face.

"Naga _will_ have your ass for what you've done Anna." He winked, taking out a Divine Icon. She contemplated very seriously murdering the kid then and there, but he was right. She definitely didn't want to deal with an angry mother of all dragons. She was strong, she could even take on Grima herself if she truly wished to, but she wasn't _that_ strong to be able to take on her. Plus, what would people think of the Anna name if she didn't repay a favour? It'd be a multi-dimensional disaster.

"So I owe him one favour for my sisters and one for the… arm…" She growled. He nodded. "Go ahead, shoot, what do you want. Riches, immortality, DLCs? I can do anything." He held the face of someone who had just won the lottery for a few seconds before growing serious once again. "It isn't my duty to ask. I'm connecting you once again to the main personality. Try not to be murderous in my absence." He winked at her before his eyes rolled in the back of his head and he fell to the ground.

"Rebooting Nick version 5.1…" She heard the boy mutter. "Update available. Update to version 5.1.1?" She was about to dismiss him before hearing a confirmation sound from him.

" will be updated to version 5.1.1. Estimated time: 3 hours." Oh for the love of herself someone was messing with her. She groaned, bringing both hands up to her face to massage her temples. "Well, first things first, I need decent clothing…"

* * *

I stared up at the sky, pondering my current situation while the spirits kept battling (it was amazing how much they could go at it without getting tired) and Nicholas took a nap. It really was something straight out of a movie, wasn't it?

…

I sighed as I didn't hear the usual noncommitting reply from Law. So he was out there braving Anna, huh? I hope he didn't get the both of us killed. It'd be a real shame if he-

*pop*

A toddler materialized, falling on top of me with an oof. What the hell?

"Hi!" He waved his pudgy little hand in front of my face. "I'm Lawrence!" Oh. "Why are you a toddler?" I wondered out loud. He shrugged. "I don't know. I guess it was my creator's decision-" both hands flew up to his face as he realized something. "Creator?" I inquired. He got up and tried to run, but with those tiny legs he was going nowhere. I picked him up by the arm, completely uncaring of his discomfort right now. I had always assumed he was just a speck of personality from my crazed mind. He thrashed in my grip, even going as far as biting me before realizing he was going nowhere.

"So, decided we wanna talk?" I asked, raising an iBrow.

He desperately looked around before his eyes landed on the other me who was currently stretching. He looked in our direction and shrugged at Law's pleading gaze.

"Fine." He pouted crossing his remaining arm over his chest. Is he crossing it if there's only one arm? Food for thought. "Let me down first." I complied, making him rub his reddened wrist while glaring at it like it offended him.

"So, what do you want to know?" he asked, sitting down on the grass. I pondered over it, before asking.

"Well, first things first, _what_ are you?"

"Really old." He deadpanned before sighing. "I'm a part of my creator's consciousness, the third Nick to ever enter this timeline. He sent me to aid Nick" he nodded towards my other self, who was currently… rolling around on the floor. Like a cat would. Completely disregarding this conversation. "And then I was passed on from him to you. My role… strictly speaking, I make sure you don't fuck up too badly, become evil or go insane." I raised an eyebrow at his choice of language considering how he looked. "Although with you I could only run damage control." He grinned, and soon we both chuckled. Man, I really am insane. "Anything else?"

"Well… what is this place?" I asked.

"It's the third to the right and then straight to the morning. I wish I was joking but circa 6 lightyears away there's Neverland, but we do not wanna crossover any more than we are doing right now."

If the distance that my eyebrow went up only today stacked it would've already flown off. He explained. "Anyways, right now this is… the first dimension you've linked yourself to I guess." I raised a hand in a go on gesture, asking him to elaborate. "Well, since you absorbed so much mana from the Gate that your heart started to reproduce it, you can technically make dimensional gates. You've been doing it unconsciously already when you sent items here. Maybe one day you'll learn how to teleport yourself and other people. As for exactly what this place is… I think it's the place where both me and Nick were banished to by Grima. Literally erased from existence in that timeline." I pondered over the answers he gave me before nodding.

"Anything else I need to know?"

He grabbed his chin in thought before starting to list things. "Well… for one, you use the Shadows of Valentia kind of magic rather than the regular kind. To put it simply, you use HP to cast. Which, considering your paper thin defences, is _bad news_. What else… you need to use the divine icon for the luck boost and… you're no juggernaut. Stop trying to tank and start dodging. The soldier is like a lance myrmidon, act like it."

"Well that's great because now we have a few hours to spare and I know just how to fill them!" Nicholas chirped from behind me, making me have a mini heart-attack.

"Yeah? How so?" I turned towards him.

"Well" he said with a smile that promised pain. "What do you think about finally taking your spirit trial? That's what this map is made for after all." Celsius, who was currently standing like 5 feet away having paused once again her brawl with Sephie, cracked her knuckles while grinning menacingly at me.

"Well, shit." Nicholas chuckled evilly at me. "Lucky for you, the odds have to be evened a bit if you even want a fighting chance. This-" He took out the Final Emblem from his pocket despite the impossibility of the action "Will make you the peak of your potential. You'll have the ideal male body. You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like" We both laughed at the inside joke. "Jokes aside, you get this thing, makes you a 20/20 for a battle. Also" He suddenly grew serious. "Do not lose. This is your life at stake. If you fail, your soul will be forfeit." I nodded. Despite my reluctance and the very high chance of dying, I wasn't going to back down. I needed this. I was too weak as I was now, too often have I danced with death because I couldn't bring enough to the fight. But with the power of a spirit…

I was about to get my ass handed to me, wasn't I?

 **Howdy fellas! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me remind you that the Q &A is a thing that exists, so please send me questions. After next chapter will be the last chance you get to send me questions, so if you've got anything to ask to the characters do it. Next chapter's a bossfight!**

 **Here's Nick's current stats.**

Nick

Otherwordly Soldier

 **Lv** 16 _(+24!)_ **Exp** 32

 **Class:** Soldier _(Basara!)_

 **Stats: Hp** : 28 ( _+22)_ /28 **Str:** 14 ( _+13)_ **Mag: (** 14 _+21)_ **Skl:** (15 _+17)_ **Spd:** 18 ( _+14)_ **Lck:** 9 ( _+13)_ **Def:** 9 ( _+5)_ _(+5)_ **Res:** 20 ( _+24)_ _(+5)_ **Mov:** 5 _(+1!)_

 **Skills:** Riposte; Toss; Rend Heaven: Inflicts damage equal to Foe's Mag or Str; Quixotic: user and enemy skill activation rate increases by 15%

 **Items:** Uruz; Algiz; Fire Card 10/10 ; Thunder Card 9/10; Elixir

 **Supports:** Miriel B;Kellam C;Marth C;Roy B;Ricken C;Sully C

 **Status:** Awakened: Maximum potential for the unit. Lasts for one battle.


	21. Chapter 20

**I am sorry for the confusion this chapter may bring to those unfamiliar to the Tales Of series. I will explain in an author note at the bottom of the chapter the parts that may seem too weird.**

 **WE'VE HIT 10,000 PAGEVIEWS AND 100K WORDS! WOOOHOOO! LET'S GO, BABY!**

 **Send me questions for the characters? Pretty please? I really want to do this Q &A thing =D**

 **PLEASE READ: IMPORTANT**

 **I have thought about this for a while. In the end, despite the votes for Lissa being higher, I decided not to ship Nick with anyone. At first, I had decided "Ok whatever I'll let the people decide who gets shipped because I don't care." But… I honestly have no idea how to write romance. I would rather stay in my comfort zone at least with my main fic, since I really want to avoid messing things up (which I'll inevitably do anyways). I'm already taking a big gamble by shipping ?xOlivia, I'm definitely not ready to write two ships from a main character's point of view.**

 **There's also the other issue I hadn't considered: myself. At his very core, changed as he is from everything that he's gone through, Nick is, at his core, me. Although one thing that could surprise people is that I relate** _ **way**_ **more to Nicholas (Future Nick) than Present Nick, but we're getting sidetracked. Simply put, writing about myself as someone who gets shipped with people just doesn't feel right.**

 **Sorry for ignoring your votes, but it's probably best this way. My attempts at writing romance would've sucked anyways.**

 **The review answers, instead of like usual, are in the bottom of the chapter.**

 **!elpoep emosewa uoy ,weiveR dna daeR**

 **Chapter 22: Cold Determination**

The wind howled, not a trace of life for miles to come around us. A frozen wasteland was the only thing that could be seen aside from me, Celsius and those four meddlers that decided to spectate.

( _Nicholas, Sephie, Fairess and Yutis.)_

Law was back with me as opposed as being a toddler, which provided a small amount of comfort in having him back where he should be. I stared down at my opponent: this was an epic battle that would be remembered for the years to come, if only by the few that witnessed it in the first place. Chuckling nervously at the serious situation, I realized how much this battle was too cliché to be true. But it was happening nevertheless.

Celsius stared back at me. Gone was the playfulness she held before when battling Sylph, or the respect towards my other self. Now it was just us. A battle of wills, of spirit we could say. (heh)

Not even my horrible sense of humor could cheer me up in this moment.

I was not ready. I knew this. Nothing had prepared me for this, no leadup, no training montage, no warning.

( _No alibi, no justice, no dream, no hope!)_

I was actually getting bored of this staring contest. She was seemingly analysing me, her feet still not touching the ground as time stretched on for seemingly centuries but it was probably no less than a minute. Suddenly, she began talking. By no means I should be able to hear what she had to say, what with the distance, the wind and her lack of shouting. But her voice seemed to carry, being even bolstered by the wind.

"I am bound to a summoner already." She said, despite it being a fact that we both were clearly aware of. I still had no idea how this… weird, crossover between worlds worked, but I guess spirits were beings that worked outside of fickle things like time and space.

( _Very fickle things like, you know, the fabric of reality, existence…)_

"I know. As a summoner, I wish of you to grant me your power." I wasn't going to talk smack to a spirit. I would talk smack to princes and princesses, kings, to minions working for some "Higher ups" who were probably deities, but not to a force of nature. Anna taught me well what talking smack to such a powerful being results in. I massaged my arm as the phantom pain returned.

"Very well." She said haughtily. "As you know well from our previous encounter, a new pact can be established only through a trial of strength. Do you believe yourself powerful enough to face me?"

( _Last chance to back down. You don't have to do this, you know.)_

I know. But if it means that I'll be strong not to be a burden to others, it'll be damn well worth it.

...

( _That was way cheesier than I expected from you.)_

I know. But the feeling still stands. Never again will I be too weak to defend myself and others.

( _Very well.)_

"No. No, I don't think myself powerful enough. But I damn well intend to go down with a fight." We grinned ferally at each other.

"Since you currently lack partners I will make an exception and fight you one on one, without Fenrir. So you don't die too fast, you know." I resisted the urge to mention Lilina, since she definitely wasn't ready for this. The **Supreme** Emblem was only one, after all. With that, she finally stopped floating. The moment when her feet touched the ground I took a defensive stance. The combat begins. It's do or die.

She immediately began chanting under her breath and I instinctively raised my shield. I couldn't remember what her moves were from the original game, but it promised nothing good. She did not disappoint. "Freeze Lancer!" She shouted, bringing her hand forward.

Not a moment too soon I raised my shield, who was met with several icicles impacting against it. Thankfully I was left spared of the onslaught, but a lot less thankfully, it was only a distraction for her next chant.

"Ice Prison!" I reacted too late to the attack and my legs got encased in ice. I stared in shock as the ice creeped up to my knees. I tried to move, but I was completely stuck as Celsius began charging at me. I took out my Fire Card and as she neared me, I tossed it towards the ground while shouting "Fire!" a fiery explosion burst between the two of us, making her jump back and managing to unfreeze my legs. I staggered back, the same lack of feeling I had felt before in my legs. That's not good.

Celsius was fast, faster than me. She began trying to hit me, every blow impacting against my shield or being dodged. I could not afford to try and juggernaut this one.

( _You should probably try and avoid tanking altogether. Your defense is pitiful.)_

Each blow against my shield felt as if a hammer hit it, my right arm starting to tremble.

*Clang!* Another blow. The combination of the cold and being repeatedly hit finally got to me. My right arm fell to the side with no previous prompting. The white-skinned spirit in front of me grinned. "Swallow Dance!" she shouted. This was gonna hurt.

A kick from her propelled me in the air, but she was not done. Chaining the first kick with a second one to the gut after jumping, she ended the combo with a kick to the jaw that made me fly off while she gracefully fell to the ground on her feet.

"What's the matter? Are you already done?" She taunted. I spat out some blood that was now filling my mouth, wiping it with my hand. "Like hell." I grinned at her, despite not feeling any of the bravado I was showing. I guess it's a matter of pride now.

"That's the spirit!" Oooooh Celsius. You poor, poor thing. You called this upon yourself.

"What? No." I got up, using my fire card to bring back some feeling in my right arm. I was mostly stalling for time right now, but trolling was always a good thing to do. I put on a confused face. " _That_ 's the spirit." I said, pointing over to Sephie who was sitting down with the others on a bench made of ice, teeth chattering. He flipped me the bird while Nicholas burst out laughing.

( _Where did the bench even come from?)_

After I was done warming up my arm and could move it again (I swear, this thing's putting up with so much abuse it's not even funny) I made a come at me gesture at her. She shook her head, ridding herself of my horrible pun before starting to chant again. Hell no I aint letting that go through. I charged at her, while she finished her chant. "Freeze Lancer!" She shouted for the second time, restarting the chant as soon as the barrage of icicles started to fly towards me.

( _Spamming moves? Really?)_

I mean, it works. But instead of hiding behind my shield I kept charging, tossing my shield ALA captain America towards her. Sadly, the cutting edge of the shield only managed to make her block, but it did stop her from chanting. Now wielding my naginata with both hands, I was now the one on the offensive. I started thrusting at her like there was no tomorrow, most of my hits missing. What surprised me, however, is that the hits that DID hit felt weird. The spirit in front of me wasn't heavily armored, and yet, despite me having a sharp pointy object, it was more like I was chipping away at a slab of ice rather than attacking a real person. I started putting more effort into striking the same point, seeing as no blood came out. She was also a lot less fast than before.

( _A clone?)_

Making a feint for her arm, I watched with satisfaction as she dodged right exposing the chest, the point where I had been striking all this time. It was time to end this.

" **No more playing around!** " I shouted, plunging my spear deep into the fake spirit's chest. As if that wasn't enough, I decided, for good measure, to bring out once again my Fire card. " **DIE!** " An explosion completely blew off the thing's head. The Icy sculpture fell to the ground, motionless.

"Huh. A clone. Who would've ever guessed Celsius was a coward." I was vaguely aware of the mana beacon behind me. The shield I had tossed before was at my feet. I had a stupid idea that was either gonna work spectacularly or leave me severely mauled. I'm a daring fool.

" **Beast!** " I whirled around in time to see the real Celsius come in to shove me with her shoulder. I let her hit me in the chest, turning the stumble into a stomp on my shield and as she summoned the head of a wolf to roar at me I grasped the shield in my hands. The roar was deafening but thankfully, Algiz absorbed the worst of it. Even despite that, I was sent skidding back.

"Hmm. Not bad. You managed to defeat my mirror image. I definitely wouldn't have bothered fighting with you if you weren't even able to do that in the first place. Now…" She took a fighting stance again. "Who did you call a coward?"

( _Terrible life choices if they were a person, that's who.)_

'Shut up, I'm not _that_ bad.'

( _…)_

'Okay, maybe I am that bad. But don't distract me right now!'

My internal ramblings were cut short by a charging Celsius. I unsummoned the shield and began charging at her as well, despite the fact that it was categorically a bad idea, but running away wasn't an option and standing still was an even worse idea.

She began by jumping at me with a flying kick that I barely dodged. I thrusted my lance at her several times, but nearly every time it was either parried or flat out blocked, if the cuts on her arms and legs were anything to go by.

( _Because the spirit of the ice is about as prideful and completely disregards self-safety about as much as Nick does. Is it any wonder they were matched together like this?)_

However, I was receiving as much as I was dealing. Bruises littered my body till I was black and blue both from the frostbite and all the hits I took. I spat blood once again, and she seemed to take that as an opening. "Swallow dance!" She shouted, trying to launch me up in the air once again like she did before, but barely missing. Everything felt as if time itself was slowing down: I saw the opening she left clear as the day.

( _This is gonna hurt.)_

I jumped in the air, gathering magical power as I did so. Aiming for her heart, I let all of the built up magic into the lance. It glowed a bright orange. And then, I struck.

To the immense surprise of the both of us, it actually pierced through her, coming out on the other side. Sadly, there was no blood because apparently spirits don't bleed. While I took the time to realize this, Celsius kicked me in the temple, making me fall over.

( _Glowing 1000-degree spear vs Celsius challenge.)_

The spirit screamed, immediately ripping out the offending lance from her body and thrusting it in the snow. She put a hand over her chest where it had been pierced and I watched in amazement as she healed herself. Uruz, cooling itself in the snow hissed loudly.

"Not *huff* bad *pant*. That was… That was pretty cruel of you, you know?" she asked. "I'll have to teach you… I'll have to teach you some manners." She ripped the now cooled lance from the ground and tossed it at me. I dodged and turned to pick it up, because that was my weapon. That, however, proved to be a severe mistake.

"Never turn your back to an opponent." a voice behind me sounded as I took the spear back in my hands. Faster than I could do anything about, I was lifted into the air by a series of kicks as her voice sounded again. "Swallow Dance! Beast!" After the onslaught of kicks stopped, I felt her shoulder smash into my back as a deafening roar then launched me away.

Sadly, it was not over. As soon as I managed to get back up, she was in front of me. Slamming a fist on the ground, she shouted "Absolute Zero!" as an icicle formed all around me. I felt the cold all around me, as it crept deeper and deeper in my bones. But it still wasn't enough. The head of a wolf suddenly appeared in front of the block of ice that encased me and smashed straight through it before disappearing once again. Of course, by virtue of smashing through my icy prison it also smashed through me. Celsius was panting, hands on her knees as she caught her breath. Not that it was of any importance to me in my current situation.

I was on the ground, completely and utterly drained. I couldn't move, could barely breathe as the cold edged closer. I was gonna die. I didn't want to die. Not in this specific moment at least. Not before having paid my dues. Not before I made sure that the world would be safe. I couldn't die.

My vision was hazy. I closed my eyes, they were hurting. Something wet was on my face. Were they tears or the snow? Can't tell. Maybe if I just take a quick nap, things will make sense again…

( _So you're just gonna give up?)_

'Let's face it, Law. I'm weak. Too weak.'

( _Weak? Yes. Too weak? No. If you try hard enough, nothing is-)_

'Yeah, yeah. Don't go all cheesy on me. Still, what can I do? Look, she's still fine and kicking. And I mean it literally.' I turned my head so I was facing Celsius. She was smirking at me, kicking the air while waiting for me to make my move.

( _She's too strong for you? Is that what you're saying?)_

Well, in short… yes. She's too strong for me.

( _Well, then. You're a Basara. What does that say?_ )

What does being a Basara have to do with- OH. OOOOOOOOOOOOOH. I get it now.

( _Took you only five minutes.)_

New hope filling my heart, I got up. I certainly wasn't feeling up to it, if the collective screaming of my muscles was anything to go by. As I was straining myself to get up, my knee gave out from under me. I tried again. The knee thankfully decided not to be a piece of shit. I finally managed to get up, ready to face my opponent.

"Hmm. It seems you still have something to give." She said, sounding almost bored. "You're quite hard to make stay down. Almost like a cockroach." I've heard this comparison before. "Nevertheless, if it's for a fight you hope…" She slid back into a fighting stance, a cocky smirk on her lips. I started readying the fire card, idly noting that I had only four or five uses left on this thing.

She stayed on guard, wary of what I was trying to do. Smart, but it would be her undoing if this went right.

( _There is very little chance of this working.)_

I like the fact that I still have a chance in the first place. Did we invert parts?

( _I'm a realist. You switch moods between pessimism and optimism at the drop of a hat.)_

I summoned my shield and began advancing towards her. As soon as I was within ten feet of her, I shot the card towards her, making it burst into a fireball that she dodged. Using the distraction that it got because it was bright and hot, I launched my shield towards her. However, she saw that coming as well, crossing her arms and blocking the razor sharp shield that clattered loudly to the ground. She turned back towards where I was, saying "Is this the best you've-" but then she realized that I was no longer there.

I was behind her, my lance ready with magical power. "Your own strength shall be your undoing!" I shouted as she whirled around, futilely trying to block. My lance pierced through her.

( _Rend Heaven. A skill that allows you to turn the opponents' power into your own, evening the odds.)_

"How did you-" She asked, clearly thinking that she should've heard me. She looked down at my feet, realizing that during the two distractions I had unsummoned the armor around my feet, leaving me walking barefooted. "heh. Good job kid. But it's not quite enough" She said, and to my great horror she began pushing the lance back from her chest. I kept pushing to keep it in, but I wasn't gaining any ground. The lance began to frost over. However, remembering what happened before, I smirked.

Taking out for the first time since the beginning of the fight the _Thunder_ card, I wrapped it around the hilt.

And in a moment like this, when life and death was on the line, trying desperately to win for the sake of the world, what could someone like me do, if not meme?

A look of horror crossed Celsius' face as she realized what I was about to do. But she couldn't do anything.

" **This divine lightning shall pierce the skies!** " I shouted. I idly noted in the back of my head that Nicholas was laughing, if in joy or at my joke I didn't know. Thinking on it, I quickly added " **ZEUS!** "

Electricity coursed through Uruz, a direct connection with her insides frying her. But she wasn't done fighting, so I had to push another charge through her. She screamed, making me feel slightly nauseous at the damage I was inflicting upon her, but I couldn't stop.

I began feeling lightheaded after the fourth. After the eight, she weakly tried to punch me. I gave one last discharge as the card faded to dust and she finally stopped fighting.

"Fine, kid." She coughed out smoke, a weird sight to see from the spirit of ice. "I can see that I'm not gonna be the winner. You pack a really nasty punch, you know that?" She grinned weakly at me. "You're definitely worthy of my power. Now, human, speak your vow." I nodded at her, a grin slowly stretching its way on my lips. I considered making the vow a complete joke, but it didn't feel quite right. In the end, I sighed, deciding for an old boring regular vow.

"In the name of a world where Grima is no longer a threat. In the name of a world where the people won't live in fear. I, Nick, ask for thy power!" Celsius' expression softened. "Indeed. Use my power well, summoner." She smiled at me before fading into a blue light. Said blue light, then, entered my chest and vanished. The cold was not so bad now. Just a little chilly here.

"Well, lookie here, he's actually done it!" Nicholas whooped as the Supreme Emblem's power finally faded away, returning me to my old appearance. "I… I've done it." I said in disbelief. "I actually did it! I…!" I tried to make a fistpump, but my body didn't quite want to listen. "I've… done…" And with that, I was out like a light, falling into the other me's arms who smiled at me sadly for some reason.

* * *

Robin was fretting. After reading that letter his friend left him, his brain started kicking into overdrive to make the perfect strategy to minimize casualties in this war, as well as bring the war's end the fastest possible as a new one loomed over the horizon, if the information he was given was anything to go by. He had carelessly dropped the rest of the letter into the fireplace, silly him. Too bad, that meant that Nick's resignation form would have to be remade. In person, when he could tell him he well and truly wanted to leave this family of nutcases. His friend was right, this was an incredible burden, but one he would take with a smile on his face if it meant the shepherds are alive and well. He knew the shepherds **needed** him. He had been careless until now, a mistake that costed him one of the best fighters he had. But no more. Although he had another problem…

 _(What are you trying so hard for, Robin? To prevent us from being stronger than all of these mortal insects? Is this what you truly wish for?)_

Robin clutched his forehead in pain as the… reluctantly familiar voice spoke to him. Luckily for him, nobody was there to witness it, since he was in his tent. They had returned to the border pass, the place that had been attacked by the enemy wyvern riders and were asked for assistance holding the front. The Ylissean scouting forces had actually managed to advance into the plegian desert, and had been told to avoid the mountains that were the famous plegian wyvern riders' territory, going instead towards west. Unfortunately, a spy, Hierarch Judas, a friend of the Exalt who decided to turn coat and even managed to get away with it (although his own spies reported that the man was later executed, serves him right) had given away the plans of the scouting squad heading west who held a lot of Ylisse's top pegasus knights and made the enemy capable of ambushing them. It was a slaughter, and even though they fought valiantly the enemy was simply too strong for them. Chrom seemed particularly disheartened by the news, and even though neither of them would ever say it aloud he'd definitely heard Sumia's cries in the night.

A lance of pain in his hand forced him to the ground, making him clutch it in between his knees.

( _Do not ignore me, Robin.)_

Robin remembered clear as the day what was the beginning of all this. He had allowed himself to tap into the originally mysterious voice's power, and this was his punishment. The mark of Grima shone bright on his hand, hidden by the fingerless gloves that he wore. He had already gone through four pairs simply because the power would sear the mark onto the glove itself, rendering its usage meaningless. A stone, black as the night had also made its way into his pouch without any explaination. His magic and swordsmanship had both improved significantly, he could easily go on par with Lon'qu even though he mostly kept himself to the sidelines. But was this power worth it, when it corrupted his very being?

"Robin? Are you alright?" Chrom asked from outside the tent, entering.

"Y-yeah. Remember Chrom, we're heading south tomorrow." He said, quickly covering it up with the plans instead of his state of health. Thankfully enough, Chrom wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, or had an incredible amount of faith in him and accepted it. However…

( _killhim_ KILLHIM _KILLHIM_ _ **KILLHIM**_ _ **KILLHIM**_ _ **KILLHIM**_ )

The pain returned, making him clutch his head as he fell to the floor. Chrom panicked and tried to help him up, but he couldn't move as he was. Chrom rushed to go call Lissa but Robin grabbed his hand before he could leave. A few minutes passed like this, with Chrom staring in shock as he held his head until the pain eventually faded.

Would he be able to deal with this? Should he just surrender to the dark dragon?

Eventually, he got up and got out of the tent, dragging his blue haired friend behind him. "I'm sorry, Chrom. I've been having a killer headache lately. But don't worry, it'll pass." The prince didn't seem convinced but realized it was something Robin didn't want to talk about and let it be. They went over to the campfire where, Robin hadn't realized it before, the shepherds were dining.

Lissa was conversing with Maribelle, and Sumia pointing at Stahl who swallowed a toad in his stew. She let out a laugh while Maribelle put a hand in front of her mouth to cover her snickering. Sumia's reaction however, was a surprise. The girl quickly rushed over to Stahl, cheeks slightly flushed to try and make him spit the toad with the Heimlich while glaring at the other two, which only made them laugh harder. Frederick had insisted with all of his might to come with them, and was currently hobbling around with his prosthetic leg, trying to become somewhat proficient at walking, something that clearly made him frustrated. Suddenly he started falling as the leg locked up and was about to fall when he was caught by his new companion, Cormag (a wyvern). Robin didn't even know where he had found a wyvern, but the two were quickly becoming inseparable. It warmed his heart.

Sully was currently sparring with Lucina using lances and clearly winning. The two redheads went at it fiercely, Sully trying to finish her opponent off while Lucina was attempting to regain some ground. Robin smiled at them: Lucina had been really down lately and Sully was acting as a sort of mother figure for her. A few feet away from them, Donnel was listening to Vaike drone on and on with nearly maniacal interest, soaking up all that he could learn from the swordsman practicing katas. He had given up his pitchfork, seemingly unhappy with his fighting prowess and asked Robin what he should do. He was about to answer the lad pick up swordplay since the lad seemed too light to use axes, but Vaike beat him to the punch and took it upon himself to train him up. He was about to protest but he realized that Vaike wasn't a bad teacher, giving good and insightful tips on how Donnel was supposed to fight. He even recorded it on his roster for later use:

 **Vaike – Donnel Support C**

 _Vaike: HAAH! HYAH! You see! That's how it's done!_

 _Donnel: Well, Teach… I reckon I don't. I mean, all I's been doing is watch ya cut a dummy to pieces!_

 _Vaike: And Teach hacked it like a champ! But no. You gotta feel the strength, deep in your very being, and then HA! You strike it with all your might._

 _Donnel: I see… so like this? HYA! Eep!_

 _Vaike: No, no, no... you don't leave the axe in your target and you certainly do not fall back. Alright, let's try this another way. You're a farmer right? That dummy's a tree you have to cut down. Only, it fights back._

 _Donnel: Like those pesky Treants my ma's always used to tell me about?_

 _Vaike: A tree-ant? Like an insect? …Weird analogy, but I like it! Now go, and give it a shot!_

 _Donnel: Alright! Haah! Haa! YEEHAW!_

 _Vaike: Good job Donny! Let's go find more dummies!_

 _Donnel: YEAH!_

Robin detracted the cost of 27 dummies from their paycheck. 27. They wouldn't be seeing any money for the next three months. However, they seemed fairly content with it, saying that "it was worth it". To each their own, he guessed.

A quick scan of the rest of the encampment on his map revealed that Lon'qu was a bit farther off from them doing Naga knows what while Virion had set up a pot with hot water to make tea in while he conversed with Miriel about this or that. Apparently Kellam was standing next to Stahl while Gaius inspected him, trying to find exactly where the big guy was, however incredible it was to believe since when he looked in that direction he couldn't see him, Panne was off digging in a dune and last but not least Ricken was…

"Oof!" Barrelling towards him. He looked down and saw that the young mage had tripped on the sand and was now dusting himself off.

"Sorry Robin! I wanted to speak with the Captain and… I tumbled." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly before returning serious.

"Right. Captain! Who was the dastardly scum who attacked you? I'll show them!" He was clutching his Elwind tome, eager to punish this mysterious person who attacked Chrom. His own interest was also piqued.

"Attacked's a big way of putting it. Pffff" Chrom suddenly chuckled as if remembering something funny. "The guy had a dagger in hand and told me to drop my purse and bolted when he realized who he was dealing poor fellow probably thought he was attacking a merchant! Ha!"

"You challenged him alone?!" He was horrified. He knew that Frederick wasn't running perimeter as well as he used to, but this was unacceptable! And Chrom's thick-headed skull! He challenged a bandit who attacked him _alone_!

"I wouldn't say "challenged". More like "shooed away". Can't very well just leave that sort around the camp now, can we?"

Ricken was starstruck, staring at Chrom like he was a hero (which he was). Robin, on the other hand was angered.

"By the Gods Chrom! I beg you, do not take more…" Robin ranted away at Chrom who half-heartedly listened to him, the stubborn oaf. However, Robin could say one thing for sure.

He would take a thousand Fell Dragons within himself for this bunch of fools that call themselves Shepherds.

 **I pitted a Tales of Symphonia style character against a Fire Emblem style character while trying to use both of their mechanics together. It was weird, but I'm pretty satisfied with how the fight came. I decided to avoid dividing the fight into segments separated by line breaks because despite a few jokes I wanted this to be a serious moment. I'm pretty satisfied with how it came.**

 **TheEdgiestOfEdgelords: Sure.**

 **Guest 2: In order: Things, There's always been one, the guard of the gate who is also the one you defeat in Apotheosis. Go look in my previous chapters, I think you missed something. There is one because I say so. Because I'm a douche who doesn't know proper line breaking. I know, but she's still Anna's boss. And, even though I never know of that before, thanks for telling me. I'll make sure he makes a quip like that. Also, she's not a god either, but I call her God!Anna because she's got semi-divine powers and her map is literally called Apotheosis which means "becoming a god" by defeating a god you become one (or at least strong like one)**

 **Whitefri2z: When romance means literally nothing to you, you go like "Oh sure go ahead choose one" to your viewers because people go mad for shipping. I don't care either way and it wasn't gonna be a great part of my fic. Although I guess that being aromantic implies I probably shouldn't ship myself with someone but, yanno. People like the stuff.**

 **And your comment almost made me weep with joy. I worked very hard making sure not to fall into any sort of self-insert stereotypes and it warms my cold dead heart to see that my work is actually paying off.**

 **And Anna's got every reason to think of Nick like that. Four times out of five they didn't bother saving her sisters, either dying too soon or simply not caring. She's very bitter about that, but she must realize that he, in a very weird way, cares about people. Also you've made me wrack my brain for like two days before I realized what phrase was it that I quoted unconsciously. Props to you for catching that reference I made.**

 **Meep718: This is an answer to your review. Thanks for your vote.**

 **Scorin: Alright, let's answer this stuff in order…**

 **1: Thanks!**

 **2: I have no idea what you're talking about. The Anna at the gate is from a particular branch of the Anna family who has struck a deal with Naga and is VERY proud of what they do; they protect the gate, monitoring everyone that comes through and sending back hostile threats, and Naga lets them get all the riches they can obtain from it (which, considering maps such as** _ **The Golden Gaffe**_ **are a thing, I can let you imagine just how rich she is). However, anything that reaches this world not from the gate falls under the jurisdiction of some, ah, more interesting individuals such as Aversa.**

 **3: Well, to be honest, this was more of a test drive in terms of a fight between 2 overpowered characters. Putting Nick at his maximum potential while also giving the Ultimate Emblem (which was established to be in Nicholas' possession in an earlier chapter) was just the way to do it, at least in my opinion. I also got to test the waters for future combats, since I'm not-so-good at them. Also, aside from Rend Heaven,** _ **which is a thing Basaras DO have,**_ **I didn't give Nick any sort of special ability. He's simply Nick** **².** **All of the special abilities that you see here are either from Celsius, which is a character from a different game or something that Nick could already do. And the power that Celsius gives him is basically an equivalent to Naesala's Vortex ability. So, instead of losing several HP per cast, Nick only loses one or two now. As for all of the stat boosts… well, as you can see, they're gone. Also the fact that you think my character is a Gary Sue when literally two reviews above the guy tells me that Nick feels very human is extremely confusing. What am I doing right and what wrong?!**

 **4: Here ya go.**

 **Also, here are the votes. A sudden spike in popularity for the "No-ship" option for some reason. I did check and every voter was from a real account. So here we are:**

 **Lissa – 6**

 **Nobody – 5**

 **Lucina – 2**

 **Sully – 1**

 **Anyways, have an omake.**

 **What if…?**

"Well, shit." Nicholas chuckled evilly at me. "Lucky for you, the odds have to be evened a bit if you even want a fighting chance. This-" He took out the Supreme Emblem from his pocket despite the impossibility of the action "Will make you the peak of your potential. You'll have the ideal male body. You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like" We both laughed at the inside joke. "Jokes aside, you get this thing, makes you a 20/20 for a battle. Also" He suddenly grew serious. "Do not lose. This is your life at stake. If you fail, your soul will be forfeit." I nodded, before an idea occurred to me.

I called Lilina's card to me, taking notice of the fact that it previously was on a pile of stuff. Whatever. I raised it in the air, before calling "Lilina, I need your help!"

The blue haired mage (who was slightly taller than me, I grumbled) appeared, mock saluting. "Hiii!" She greeted. "What do you need?" She asked.

 _(Don't do it. It's a bad idea. Stop.)_

"Well…" I said, trying to find the words for it before shrugging and slapping the Supreme Emblem on her chest, surprising her. "Go beat up that spirit."

A golden aura appeared around Lilina, and soon, in her place stood something I didn't expect.

I mean, the blue haired girl was still there but… uhm…

"Do you even lift, Nick?" She asked in a surprisingly deep voice.

I don't think anybody expected this. She was, to put it frankly, a bulging mass of muscles with a frown on her face. I'm pretty sure she could put Priam to shame. She wore the Oni chieftain mask covering her chest, baggy red pants covering her legs with literally METAL SHOES at the end.

 _(What have you done?)_

In her hands, easily slung over her shoulder was a flaming Armads. She grinned at me before heading towards the now cowering spirit of ice.

And then, she fucking destroyed Celsius. The end.


	22. Chapter 21

**I've now got a cover art, made by yours truly! :D check it out**

 **This will be the last chance to send questions to the characters. If you have something to ask, you're doing it now. Not tomorrow. Not the day after.** _ **Now.**_

 **After some important insight on people's part in general, particular thanks to Kidemonas and Undeadmonkey-sama, I have come to this conclusion: I will finish the first book of TOS, then I will take a pause that I was gonna take regardless. I will play RD, for the sake of both of my current fics, and then I will change whatever I have to change about Celsius. So, without much further ado, let's get riiiight into the chapter!**

 **Read and Review, or else I will make an omake where I kick y'all in the balls.**

 **23: Tying loose ends up in my noose**

When I came back to my senses, I was back in my own dimension. The grassy hill, the pile of stuff, everything was there. Everything, except for…

"Where the hell is everybody?" I wondered aloud. The frostbite and bruises on my body had thankfully disappeared, making it far easier to get up without my whole body screaming in protest.

"They left." A childish voice supplied from behind, scaring the shit out of me. "Gah! Oh, it's you Law." I sagged back on the ground in relief before the meaning of what he said actually sunk in. "Wait, what?! Where'd they go?"

He shrugged. "Nicholas said something along the lines of "He completed the map, and I've never been one for mushy goodbyes, so I'm out." Pretty sure he moved on to the afterlife."

I stared at him incredulously for a second before chuckling. "I really am a bastard, am I not? Couldn't even bother saying bye." I shook my head, laughing quietly. "So, what are we gonna do now?" I asked.

He shrugged. "You tell me. What, all that bravado from earlier is gone? Just like that?"

"Wha- No!" I shouted.

"Then go ahead, make this a world where people don't fear Grima. You have my power. Now shoo." he said, making shooing hand gestures. "This place is a mess. And considering I don't feel like staying any longer in that empty head of yours, I gotta make some changes." he raised one hand in the air and it began snowing. It seems that he got Celsius' powers as well. "Go away. You've still got a nutcase redhead to talk to. Ah, by the way" a flying book hit me in the chest, making me let out an 'oof' as it fell into my hands. "Everything you need to know about Ice magic" I read. "When did I get this thing?"

"The Royal Archives. Did you already forget?"

"Dude, that was like, 9 chapters ago or something. Gimme a break." I said, casually slamming the back of my hand into the 4th wall.

"You can have it. I certainly don't need it." he smirked cockily, starting to build something out of ice. Okay then.

"Alright, then… Law, how much time do we have before I have to meet Anna?"

"Well, the battle took about half an hour, you stayed down for like an hour, you were there for another… eh, I'll say you got thirty minutes to test your new toys out."

A smirk came to my face as I flipped open the book, uncaring of its contents, just wanting to test the magic within out.

I poured magic into the book, eager to spread frozen destruction upon the land. Nothing happened.

A frown came over my face as I realized something.

I have never actually tried using tomes, since they're either really old and lack the finesse of thousands of year of magical research, or they're really new and in a language we cannot read.

Not being able to read doesn't bother me that much.

Nope.

Not at all.

Not a single bit.

Maybe a little bit.

Just a teeny tiny bit.

Just a miniscule teeny tiny bit.

It bothers me a lot.

It fucking bothers me a fucking lot.

"Well, time to read the instruction manual." I said aloud.

* * *

At least this thing's in Ancient, which is roughly the same as english.

So.

What have we learned from 30 minutes of skimming over the book's content while finally understanding stuff that we previously didn't understand from Magic for Beginners by Merric (which happens not to be the Merric we know, surprisingly) or whatever it's called?

A lot, actually.

Basically, the four great magical elements are Earth, Fire, Wind and Water. Long ago, the 4 elements lived in harmony.

Then everything changed when the Earth nation attacked.

No big surprise there. Basically, Earth magic was wiped from the continent in a crusade in a time long before Anri himself. That's why Medeus was so scary, nobody actually knew how to deal with him when he pulled Earth once again out of his ass.

Anyways, Earth magic got destroyed. Considering Water was its counter (in a weird square elemental thing where WaterEarthFireWindWater, however that may work) it quickly fell into disuse, leaving only Fire and Wind, one being militarly the strongest. And then, outta nowhere, BAM!

Lightning magic came out and wowza, it countered Fire Magic while being countered by Wind! And somehow everyone forgot about the two other elements.

How does that tie into Ice? Well, Ice is, quite simply, the direct consequence of Water being little more than a concussive blast that's way inferior to Earth, or a cutting edge that's inferior to Wind. The only thing it was good at was mudding the battlefield so that Earth mages wouldn't be able to attack well. When Earth got eliminated, Water did as well.

But then, out of nowhere, a guy who can turn Water into a decently useful element by making it very very cold so that it can stab things better who also happens to be the author of this book!

He died. He literally died, the only thing he managed to do was make Fimbulvetr, his masterpiece, a widely known spell.

I'm getting sidetracked here. The important thing is, what I've actually been granted is free access to temperature regulating magic without costing me mana. And when I say temperature regulating I don't mean that the room is slightly chilly, I mean that if I don't like someone I can literally send them to Absolute Zero temperatures. Granted, their innate resistance WILL fight me, but still.

Will I do that if I have a say in it? No.

Will I keep it as a trump card? Hell yes.

So what am I currently doing with all of this knowledge?

I'm skating on the frozen ground like a child. It's so much fun.

"You **are** a child. Stop forgetting that." Law called from the roof of the house he was making.

"I won't." I sighed. Granted, it's actually a really good way of testing my powers if I freeze the ground just as I'm stepping on it, but still. I'm having more fun than I've ever had in weeks. Who knew that being on the verge of death nearly 24/7 would be **not** fun? Cue dramatic gasp.

"Your body is waking up." Law mentioned from the roof of icy house that he was creating. At first I thought he was pulling an Elsa and creating an ice castle, but this looks more like a house. It's even got a chimney!

What would an ice house need a chimney for?

I also have noticed that I can use Celsius' power a lot better than my own. Sure, a low ache had settled in my body from the mana usage, but it is so much better than when I tried using a Fire or Thunder spell. Perhaps I'm more talented for Light magic.

Also, I noticed that despite the loss of my herculean strength caused by the Emblem, I still had the Basara tiger outfit (that I proceeded to throw on the ground because ugh, it's trash) and within me I could still feel a power of defiance, that wanted to subvert the roles of weak and strong. _Rend Heaven_ my mind helpfully supplied.

"Law I'm about to have a nervous breakdown. I promoted at level 17 instead of twenty aaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" a snowball to the face promptly shut me up.

"Thanks… Now that I think of it, does this mean I should reclass now? Quixotic is a trash ability anyways…"

The shrug that came from Law was almost audible.

"Well, time to head back to the real world." I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, a redhead was staring at me. She scoffed in exasperation.

"Finally! Do you have any idea how long I've had to hear you sing that stupid "Never gonna give you up"?!"

Did

Did you just-

( _Yes, it appears I have Rickrolled Anna.)_

You glorious bastard. I love you.

"Whatever, let's get this over with." Anna scoffed. "You know what you're here for, tell me this one wish-" Suddenly, a feeling of anger that I'm 90% sure wasn't mine surged within me as my throat let out a low growl.

" _(Three.)_ " My fingers unconsciously grasped the Naga Icon that was in my inventory as I tried to make any sense of this situation.

Anna seemed to be sweating bullets as she saw a not-so-veiled threat (even though I had no idea how Law managed) before sighing. "Fine. Tell me these _three_ wishes and let's just get this over with. What do you want? Money? Exp? I've got it all."

I blinked. This was way better than I expected. I stroked my chin in thought. "Well, I certainly didn't plan for three wishes but…" I sighed, my mood turning sour once again.

"I'd like to make my family worry no longer. Can you send an Einherjar of me in the… huh. What do I call it? Whatever, send an Einherjar of me to my house so that my family can at least stop looking for me." Anna's gaze softened as she realized that, somehow, I'm not a baby-eating monster.

( _You did entertain the idea of Communism for a while.)_

Shaddup.

She snapped her fingers, saying "Done. Two wishes left."

"Second… well. There's no way to say this softly. I've fucked up and badly. I need you to undo Cordelia's death." Anna frowned at me, before saying: "Death's a rough experience, especially when violent. Don't blame it on me if she goes nuts." I nodded, confident that she would be fine. She had to be.

With a snap of Anna's fingers, we were in the Plegian desert, right next to a redheaded cadaver and her pegasus. "The other knights wanted her to survive, so she ran but… she didn't make it in the end. She's actually pretty far from the rest of the bodies." Anna frowned. I looked around myself and noticed, on the horizon, the border pass from chapter 5 (of awakening). Brings back memories.

"Alright. Before we do this, lest too many people see me, what's your third wish?" She said, tapping her foot on the ground in annoyance.

I wracked my brain for anything to ask of her before saying "Meh, I'll take a rain check. I really don't have anything to ask for right now." She gave me an incredulous look. "Seriously? You can ask for literally anything and you can't think of a SINGLE thing to ask? Really?"

"Yup." I said, popping the p. She groaned dramatically before muttering "This kid's nuts…" A snap of her fingers, a staff appeared in her hands. She begun muttering some chant before lifting her staff up in the sky, shouting "Aum!" A bright golden light engulfed Cordelia and the horse who… did nothing.

( _Well, to be fair, she resumed breathing. That's a plus.)_

"Isn't she gonna wake up?" I asked. Anna shrugged. "It depends. She probably needs some time to rest." And with that, she warped away. The sun was starting to set. I looked at the no-longer-dead redhead. She still looked like she's gone through hell (and she probably has), her armor bloodied as she unconsciously hugged her spear to herself, cuts in the armor littering her body until a particularly nasty hit to the side finished her off. The pegasus didn't look any better, the scar of a lance passing through its ribs clear as the day on the armored steed.

I sighed. Apparently, I was stuck babysitting miss Knight Paragon till she woke up. That's nice.

Lying against the horse using him as a sort of cushion, I prepared to take watch. After ten whole minutes, a whopping new record of attention span from me, I decided that I could practice my new cool (heh) powers.

I whisper-shouted "Blizzard!" and to my command, a ball of ice appeared, floating in my hand. It was the most basic spell out of the book I had read, and currently the only one I could cast. The familiar ache in my arm settled as I started modifying the ball's shape. What was cool (heh x2) about this was that, so long as you still held this thing you could modify its shape as you wanted. I practiced molding the ball in my hand, even managing to make a middle finger with it before letting it rest again as a simple cold blue glowing ball. The fact that such a beautiful thing will become my main tool of death…

I sighed.

( _Nick, are you alright?)_

"… What begs the question?" I ask aloud, since nobody's near me.

( _I'm literally monitoring your emotions. I can see when you're sad.)_

"It's just… I don't know. I expected to be happier. But then I realized, with everything that I've done, I'm simply back at square one. I mean, sure I've revived Cordelia and she'll be hopefully ready to kick ass and marry Chrom so Lucina finally gets off my back, and I've finally given some closure to my family, but what then? I simply undid two of my many mistakes. I haven't really helped any. You could argue that I've saved those villagers, but again, Anna would've done it anyways.

"And look at the bad things I've done… first things first, I've become a murderer. Killing people simply doesn't bother me. Sever a spine, pierce their throat, drown them in their own blood, destroy the heart… Now I've got even more tools of destruction. And it comes to me easy as pie.

"My bad decisions have killed Donny's village. They've destroyed Frederick's leg. Condemned an entire platoon of pegasus knights. Made my family search futilely for a useless son for 2 months!"

At some point of this rant I've began crying, my once bored tone turning downright desperate, between all the "Hics" and "Sobs". I sound pretty pathetic.

" *sniff* And what have I done to make up for this? Nothing!" I shout. My own voice comes off as much higher than expected and I wince. Looking over at Cordelia, she's still sleeping soundly, thank god. I sure didn't want to have to explain that one.

"Now, that is not true." An extremely high pitched voice sounds from behind me. The fact that it's apparently canonical that Lilina sounds exactly like her Heroes voice actor is a little weird, but whatever. "I clearly remember that you saved the Exalt's life from death. And the farmboy's, and made Marth strengthen Ylisse's militia, and-" She was listing off things, but I cut her off.

"Ah, right, Lilina." A broken laugh escaped my lips. "Thanks for reminding me. News flash, I managed to _lose Roy_ and was too chicken to tell you. Pathetic, isn't it?!" I asked, turning towards her. Her lips were set into a thin line. "I know. I've always known. But it's okay, Nicholas. We'll find him, right?" I simply buried my face in my knees as Lilina gently patted my back.

"I'm not cut for saving the world… I can't do this alone… and now, Nicholas' is gone too…" I mumbled, my face still pressed in between my knees.

Eventually, my sobbing faded to sniffing, who then faded away to nothing. Lilina kept me distracted by talking to me till I was better.

"Thanks, Lilina…" I said, a loud yawn ripping itself out of my mouth. She simply smiled at me.

"Man, I really needed to have a good cry." I said.

( _I'm gonna make you cry repeatedly if that makes you less depressed, even if it doesn't make a sliver of sense.)_

'No thanks. I'm going to sleep.' I called back Lilina's card into my hand. With another mighty yawn, I let myself fall down into the sand and let oblivion take over.

* * *

 _I was lazing around on my bed, having just failed another attempt at playing Rekka no Ken HHM, but still glad that the summer had finally kicked in so I wouldn't have to go to school._

 _The door burst open, revealing the figure of my brother in his Avatar: The last airbender t-shirt. Without so much of a warning, he tossed himself onto me. He was completely damp with sweat. "Levati." I said, making no move to remove it. It would be futile anyways. "No." He replied. Seems like he would remain there. I picked back up the WiiU controller, but a phone was quickly shoved in my face._

 _(_ Levati = Get off.)

" _Evoca. Ora. Adesso. Subbito." I sighed as we both got up for the summoning ritual, that consisted of summoning each other's heroes and whenever we got a 3-star we would pass the turn to the other while playing Filthy Frank's "OH FUCK YEAH THIS IS THE SHIT" whenever we found a 5-star or Wrys. Don't ask why. Please._

 _(Evoca._ Ora. Adesso. Subbito. = Summon. Now. In this moment. Instantly.)

 _Who am I talking to?_

 _Anyways, we got there, in front of the PC, put on the youtube video (skipping a Pantène ad, I swear to god I dye my hair ONE TIME and this shit happens) and pulled out my own phone. 41 orbs, and the Bridal Blessings banner on. Let's do this._

 _We put the phones side by side and I got two greens, one blue and two colorless. I shrugged; there were much worse pulls than that. He, on the other hand, got four colorless and a red. Lucky bastard._

 _We made our picks, him picking the green one while I chose one of the colorless._

 _Tap, tap aaaaand… smoke! Yes!_

 _I found (on his phone) Bridal Cordelia. Damn, this was a lucky one. First summon._

 _He turned my phone for me to see that he had found 3-star Sheena. Too bad._

 _I now picked for the both of us; Red for him and one of the two colorless for me._

 _Tap, tap (x2) and… no smoke on either. "*sigh* Che palle…"_

 _(_ Che palle = Balls...)

 _Priscilla on mine and Chrom on his. He saw him and said._ _"Beh, almeno posso passare Etere a qualcuno."_ _I don't know why, but seeing him treat Chrom as just Aether fodder made my blood boil. I frowned at him, but kept a few choice words to myself._

(Beh, almeno posso passare Etere a qualcuno. = Well, at least I can now pass Aether onto someone.)

 _He got the phones back. He picked the colorless orb for the both of us. Smoke appeared, blah blah blah, 4-star Lissa for him and Kagero for me._

" _Nooo, Lissa fa cagare! Ha pure delle IV da schifo!"_ _He said, after noticing her 6 Atk stat. I pressed my lips in a thin line; again, I had no idea why I was mad, but it made me want to punch him. I wasn't gonna punch him on a whim, but still._

(Nooo, Lissa fa cagare! Ha pure delle IV da schifo! = Nooo, Lissa sucks! Her IVs are also garbage!)

 _He picked the green orb for me and another colorless for himself. Both flukes. Another Sheena for me and a Saizo for him._

 _I then noticed that he had run out of orbs, tossing him his phone that he put away while staring eagerly at mine. Only a blue orb remained. Maybe I could get bridal Caeda?_

" _Dai, evoca!" he told me. I tapped the pay button, then the blue orb and finally the summon button._

(Dai, evoca! = Go on, summon!9

 _Smoke, beam of light… "Eh?" I asked. A reflection of myself, unblinking stared back at me._

"Hello. I've stumbled through yet ANOTHER portal. While I'm here, do you need anything of me?" _He asked through text. I looked back up at my brother in question._

" _Ma che cazzo-?" I asked him._ _He simply looked at me pointedly before asking. "Well, this is the life you chose for yourself, is it not?" he said, my mind barely noting that there was a language switch._

(Ma che cazzo-? = What the fuck-?)

" _I mean, after all you've decided to forsake your family like a_ _ **coward**_ _." He spat those words out with as much venom as possible. "Ironic that you've become someone who gets featured in_ _ **Heroes**_ _is it not? You're anything but a hero, after all." I stared at him, the tears starting to pool up in my eyes._

" _Anyways, it seems you just can't stay down like the cockroach you are. So I'll just keep on killing you. Let's begin." A sadistic smile appeared on his face as a bow appeared in his hands._

" _Die." He said. I didn't even bother trying to protect myself, I couldn't. Not against him. He started shooting at me in various places, my body littered with arrows and looking like a reverse hedgehog. Basically all of my body was pierced but my chest. "Go to hell, you little_ _ **coward.**_ _" He said, shooting the last arrow._

I woke up with a gasp to a very weird scene. Plegian soldiers keeping a knife to Cordelia's neck while they were trying to restrain her, and some of them around me with weapons in hand. The ground around me frosted, one of the idiots who tried to sneak up on me suffering frostbite all over his leg. Serves him right.

I springed up, taking notice of the remaining 11 soldiers (and 5 wyverns) after Cordelia had gotten three and four of the damn things.

( _She's good.)_

"Alright, so, what do you want?" I asked. What appeared to be the leader stepped up.

( _Vasto.)_

"Well, it appears that one of the pegasus pansies we thought we had decimated survived. We were merely finishing the job, you see." He chuckled, and all of the other men laughed with him.

"Any change you're gonna be a bright man and we can talk this out?" I asked. They all seemed to find this funny, because they started laughing. However, the leader held up a hand to shut them up. "Alright, let's see. What could you possibly have that we cannot loot from your dead body?" He sneered, and all of the other guys laughed. I started laughing myself.

Let's hope this works.

( _What are actually the odds of it working?)_

Pretty good. Fifty-fifty. It works or it doesn't.

"The lives of your men." I said, summoning four icicles around myself and pointing them at his men menacingly. "You've already lost three of them, do you really want half your squad to go into the grave with them?" I kicked the body that was close to me for scenic effect. He was a blonde haired thief, looked no older than seventeen. Around his wrist was a bracelet that felt like it had a lot of chaotic mana, and on his hand a mark of the branded.

What a terrible character.

( _But-)_

WHAT. A TERRIBLE. CHARACTER.

I turned back towards Vasto, who was now glaring at me. I grinned.

"This is a hostage exchange. And-" I shot one of my icicles to the thief that was trying to go around me, hoping I wouldn't notice, impaling him. "Anyone else feels like being a smart guy? No?" Vasto glared at me, gripping the steel axe in his hands in a white knuckled grip. "You release her, without chasing after and you get to live the rest of your pathetic life until you'll inevitably be sent to the front lines by the mad king and I'll come with you without putting up a fight. You don't, and maybe you get to kill me, but are we taking chances? I'm a Shepherd. This would be child's play for me." That… wasn't a lie. I could definitely take these guys on right here and now, but…

I'm not gonna risk it. There's Cordelia with a knife at the throat.

He looked around, his glare still trying (and failing) to set me on fire. He raised a hand, saying "Let her go."

The one with the frozen leg said "But boss, she's killed Finn, Gary and-"

"I said let her go. It's not worth it. We've got a bigger prey to bring to our king now." He grinned ferally at me.

"Nick, wait!" Cordelia shouted, struggling against the man holding her. "You don't have to-" but I shook my head. "Soldier, report to Captain Chrom stat. Don't rest until you've arrived. Got it? Your sisters didn't die for you to throw away your life." I barked out, my face turning deadly serious before softening up a bit. "I guess this is my way of making up for saving me a while ago." I smiled reassuringly at her.

( _Abusing rank AND trauma in a situation like this, really?)_

It worked. Cordelia momentarily sprung at attention, before putting two fingers in her mouth and whistling. Her pegasus immediately arrived from the spot where two of the goons were trying to restain it. She jumped on it. "I'll come back!" she told me, before flying off towards the outpost. After making sure that she was not even a tiny speck in the distance, I let down the arm I had been keeping up this whole time.

Vasto started to walk towards me. "I guess I know what it feels like to have your comrades in danger. You've just killed one of my men. So I guess you're nothing like that little piggy you used to call Hierarch." He said. "But believe me when I tell you that, when we arrive, rest assured that I'll have you skinned alive by the week's end."

"Ah, no, I don't plan for that." I took a step back. "Cordelia's gone anyways, I've no need for martyrdom. You can leave now, down four members and get away with your tail between your legs or I can kill you here and now and nobody will ever remember your pathetic life."

( _That was morbid.)_

And demoralizing. That's the plan.

He looked at me before him and his crew started laughing. "You, one kid against all of us ten?" he said. I simply began pulling on my fingers, hearing the satisfying crack into them as I started creating more icicles.

"You're right." I said. "You definitely should've brought back-up."

( _Ugh, witty one-liners, really? What are you, a fanfiction protagonist?)_

I shrugged. I was feeling pretty badass now. And these guys? They had just signed up to become target practice for my new powers.

* * *

"You finally wake up, friend. Gregor doesn't know what you had, but it was strong stuff, yes?" a figure asked. I shook my head.

"Good thing Gregor finds you. Bad slavers around these dunes. Gregor knows, he was one of them once! He got better though."

What kind of mess have I gotten myself into?

 **Hello ladies and laddies! Here's the review answers. Also a bit of pre for the second main character of the fic. Well, I mean, I guess you could consider Rose a main character too. So third main character. But I digress.**

 **Since everyone seems SO hellbent on making me have romance I'll give it another thought. Maybe. You'll see.**

 **Also, I have started a new fic! It's called New Game Minus and it's a collab between Kidemonas and myself. Check it out!**

 **Below are the answers.**

 **Scorin: It's not just the idea of people trying to decide my love life. The idea of letting people decide it was mine to begin with. But the very concept of shipping my own character with someone, when I actually got down to writing was just… weird…**

 **Also we're totally having a post-game where Nick goes on a journey to retrieve Einherjars, and he'll mostly be by himself aside from a few meetings with other shepherds.**

 **Never been one to get a feel for battles either. It's a constant tug o' war between "Am I making this realistic" and "Am I making this entertaining" it's exhausting.**

 **Ehh… sorta. It's kind of a recurring joke in the Fire emblem community that by all means Lilina should use Armads, and then Onmi (the creator of FE: Maiden of Darkness) goes and whips out an axe animation for Lilina that is god tier. It's easy to get inspired like that. Ah, that, and Oni Chieftain Sakura.**

 **To be honest, I'm not sure. In the post-timeskip, they're all underage besides Belle, Lucina and Laurent. Shipping kids just feels… meh. I don't know. I'll think about it.**

 **Guest 2: Do you have any idea of how weird it is to write sexual tension about myself? *shudder***

 **Well, okay then. Good thing he's ded I guess.**

 **Yes.**

 **I probably will give an in-game explaination for it, like "Nick tries to troll Tiki and Tiki goes into a long winded explanation."**

 **And the rest of the questions will be answered at a later date by Nick himself.**

 **Scorin: it's legit what I've been trying to do with the questions for the characters that FUCKING NOBODY IS SENDING. *pouts***


	23. Chapter 22

**23: The Q &A special!**

 **Guest 2: You'd be cocky too when you have just learned how to spam kickass magic, wouldn't ya?**

 **There's to say that she's now gonna have Chrom to at least comfort her some. Death knocked some sense into her about the urgency of doing stuff you always wanted to do, when you're a soldier.**

 **I always thought that Nagi was the current Naga, but I am not sure. Gonna have to look into it later.**

 **Anyways, without much further ado, get ready for the Q &A special! Read and Review if you wanna see another one, still review if you don't want to.**

So… you know how I said those guys signed up for target practice?

( _Because you have a death wish?)_

'You make it sound like it's a bad thing.'

( _I'm not gonna deign_ _ **that**_ _with a reply.)_

Anyways… Well… they did sign up for target practice. But…

( _Let's cut to the chase; he got his ass handed to him.)_

'Oi! That's so not true! I defeated them all!'

( _But at what cost?)_

'Well…'

I stared at my broken left arm as it bent at an uncomfortable angle. I think Law has been messing with my pain settings, because a broken arm should bring at least some degree of pain. Either that, or my pain tolerance has skyrocketed on its own again because of how much abuse I put my body through on a regular basis.

( _A bit of column A, a bit of column B.)_

Damn.

Lilina had also died so for a while my only line of defense was mmmmagic. Which was a pretty good line of defense, mind you.

So, after getting my arm in a makeshift cast (kids remember: Elixirs do not heal broken bones, FYI) I stared in the direction that from the position of the sun I guessed was north. I've realized something.

I have absolutely and positively no fucking idea what to do now.

I mean, there's always the outpost that's about a good fifty kilometers from here… I should probably check in on Cordelia, Marth, Emmeryn and the rest of those who stayed behind to see if they're doing okay…

*ding*

What… What was that?

( _That was Marth calling.)_

Alright, yeah. I'll do that, and see what I can do over in Ylisstol. I'm still not ready to be a Shepherd again, but I can at least be Nick. That would be simple enough.

I wonder how my Einherjar's doing…

* * *

I got back from my latest lesson at UNI, bone tired and sweaty. After taking the subway back to home, I found it completely empty. Mom was probably off doing something or mourning again on Ni's grave. Police had completely given up on finding him, saying that his body was probably burned by someone, though they have no clues on who.

I was about to toss myself onto _his_ bed, only to find out that it was occupied.

By him. A blue aura was around his body, seemingly disappearing into thin air.

What the fu-

"Well, about fucking time you showed up. Hold on, sorry-" He coughed into his fist. "Beh, era fottutamente ora che arrivassi."

( **AN: Enter translation mode!** **For the sake of my, your, and everybody else's sanity, assume that the following dialogue is in Italian. Thank you.** )

So many questions were racing through my mind. So I asked them.

All at once.

"WHEREWEREYOU, WHYAREYOUHERENOW, **WHYAREYOUJUSTLAYINGTHERE, AND** **WHY ARE YOU DISINTEGRATING?!** " I asked. A look of surprise crossed his face as he listened to me scream before he resumed his usual deadpan expression.

"Well, I missed you too, Fra'." But I was having none of that shit.

"ANSWER! ME! NOW!" I screamed in his face. He sighed.

"Alright, in order… In Ylisse, I just managed to get here, because, and because I'm an Einherjar." I listened to his replies, and my very intelligent reply was this.

"What?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought as well. This is gonna take a while to explain…"

* * *

 _One explanation that took a while later…_

I pinched the bridge of my nose. This is some serious mind fuckery. I opened my mouth to speak, but then closed it. This repeated for several times before I managed to say what I was trying to say.

"So you're telling me that you **suicided** " he winced as I said that, accompanying it with a kick to his legs that he didn't even bother trying to dodge "and somehow wound up in Ylisse. A whole lot of shit happened, and now he's sent you over to fill his fucking place over here?!" I didn't curse often, but this just takes the cake.

"And you expect me to believe you?!" He shrugged, his usual "devil may care" attitude showing off. "I mean, you can choose not to believe me, but I'm disintegrating here, so…"

I opened my mouth and closed it once again, before I asked. "Why are you disintegrating anyways?"

He shrugged irritatingly once again, before saying "You know D&D?" at my deadpan, since I had been the one who introduced him to it he continued "Well, as I've recently found out, Earth is a dead-magic zone. I'm surprised it's taking so long for me to disintegrate at all. I've been here for two hours already."

I stared at him before massaging my temples in hope of warding away the headache that was brewing up. It didn't help at all.

"So. What am I even supposed to do with all this information? Am I supposed to go after you or something?" I asked warily.

"I mean… you did in the original timeline, though I'm not privy to the exact mechanics of that. Just thought I'd inform you."

"And why should I even go there in the first place? It's a world wracked by warfare every twenty years AT BEST. And I'm no fighter." I ran my hands across my face.

"Well… I know just five words will probably sway you." He gave me a shit eating grin.

"And they are?" I asked.

"Francis. You. Have. A. Daughter."

"So what if I ha- WHAT." I blanched when I heard what he said. "I have a wh-what?"

"A daughter. Her name's Rose."

"That is, _if_ I go there I will have a daughter, right?" The ghost shook his head.

"From what I've seen, we're already into Timeline numero two. So no, that's not a thing." I felt whatever little blood I had in my face leave it.

"By the way, now that I think about it, I've done a lot of changes to canon. Like, say… I may have slightly killed Cordelia via butterfly effect. She should be fine now, though."

" _Y-you what?!"_ I asked, completely dumbfounded.

"Yeah… it's part of the reason I left the Shepherds."

" _Y-you left them!?"_ I asked him, once again swept off my feet. Why was he so nonchalant about this?!

"Hey! In my defense, keeping things canon is a lot harder than it should be. Especially when the past/future you has already fucked up so many things. Can you believe that it's barely chapter 6 and Lucina is already a Shepherd?" Nick asked.

"Just-Just… how much stuff did you change?" I asked, exasperated.

"Well… I saved Donny, though his village is a goner. I killed a whole lot of people" I winced at the blasé tone that he took. Just… what had become of my brother?

"I obtained magic-" he demonstrated this by summoning out of his freaking hand a fireball… that quickly extinguished. "Right. Anti-magic zone." He frowned. "Anyways, I did the paralogues, Frederick's lost a leg" a sound came out of my throat that suspiciously sounded like a choked cat "I saved Anna, I saved Anna, got some Einherjars like yours truly, Emmeryn is now a narcoleptic and that may have slightly been my fault? Sorta? I dunno. I obtained some sick equipment and… I think the changes end there. Oh, right, I also became a Spirit Charmer from RD! I think." I raised an eyebrow inquiringly, never having played Radiant Dawn.

"it's hard to explain." He shrugged, unhelpful as he had been this whole conversation.

"Just… why are you so unfazed by all this?" I asked, a bit of desperation in my voice. Just what had this world done to my little brother?

"Oh, that's easy. I'm literally about to die, so it has no consequences on me." He said, shrugging once again. "If you ask the real me, though, he'll probably lock up or even start crying. He's done that a lot lately."

"Just… give me a moment, alright? I need some time to think about this. You're not disappearing soon, are you?" I warily asked. This monster wearing my brother's face really unsettled me.

"I follow orders Francis. Tell me what to do and I'll do it." He winked at me. With a final shudder, I closed the door behind me (in his face) and went to toss myself into my mother's bed.

Or rather…

"Wait, no!" The Einherjar called. "That's where the portal-" but I couldn't hear him anymore. The only thing I could hear was the low hum of what I would later learn to be a portal.

Shit.

* * *

Nick stared at the portal closing as he watched his brother go. He sighed, removing the mask of indifference on his face that he had adapted.

"There couldn't have been a more stupid start to a story…" he put his face in his palms for about a minute before standing up.

"Well, I've got like… 30 minutes or something… might as well use them." He said, moving over to the computer before he realized something.

The POV hadn't left.

"Huh? What is it now?" A muffled voice could be heard from behind the camera.

"And we're doing this NOW? This is a sort of important moment, you know. We're beginning with the second protagonist!" Nick threw a hand to the portal to get better his point across. An audible shrug came from the same person as before.

"I've literally 30 minutes to live and you want to waste my time like this?" More muffled speech, but this time the words "contract" and "einherjar" could be heard.

"Ugh, fine… tear reality apart at the seams just so you can make stupid omakes…" He pouted, tossing himself onto one of the two beds. "Your story is shit anyways…" A box was tossed in his face, and he opened it to reveal a few slips of paper.

"Welcome to the first and hopefully last Q&A where your favorite (I hope) protagonist reads out the questions and answers them! That's kind of obvious given the fact that this is a Q&A! And since the Author is a desperate fuck we'll be reading some reviews that he wants me to answer as well!" He said. Grumbling from behind the camera could be heard.

"So, without further ado, let's get onto the first question! This one comes from Kidemonas!" He grabbed a slip of paper with some text on it.

"Why doesn't Roy" he frowned at the name. "have the Binding Blade?" Nick said, before crumpling up the paper and tossing it behind himself. "Well, that's a very simple one to answer. I tried doing it once and…

" _Roy's our Legendary Boy!" I called. I saw the card exit my pocket as I stared at him expectantly. Then I felt the tug of mana from the weapon in his hands. And I puked. Thankfully Roy got the hint and unsummoned himself._

"Perhaps when I'm a better mage and learn to handle mana better I'll be able to summon it like that. But to put it short, it's like when I try to summon Marth with a Falchion user nearby; it becomes the actual legendary weapon instead of a glorified Wyrmslayer. Thank you for the question. Next one!" he said, pulling out another slip of paper.

"This one's from… a person that wishes to remain anonymous. Alright then."

"Nick is a Gary Stu, and the fanfic sucks." He said. "This is literally all this thing says." Nick took a deep breath as he processed that, before putting on a smile with way too many teeth.

"Well, fuckface, thank you for being our very first hatemail. Now, when you go tell someone that he's annoyingly perfect, make sure that they actually are. Considering I fail in most of what I do, especially trying to avoid people dying, that's clearly not the case." Tears could be seen pooling up in Nick's eyes, but his hand reached up to remove them. "Moving on!" he reached into the box.

"Oh, another one from Kidemonas. "If you think about it, give Nick a Bow and Arrow and he could be passed off as Wolt (best archer) or Gordin." A sharp intake of breath from Nick. "Alright. Perhaps let's stop reading questions that remind me of my missing best friend, thank you very much. Anyways…

"I actually cannot use a bow and arrow. My right eye" he waved a hand in front of it "sees all blurred. I used to wear glasses, actually they're right there" he pointed to the desk where the computer was "but I didn't put them on when I attempted to suicide for OBVIOUS reasons. It's also been a while since my hair's been green, so… yeah. Another one!" He grabbed the next question.

"This one's from… another anonymous guy! Woohoo!" He said in the most deadpan voice possible.

"How do Einherjars work in this world? It seems they are different every time they are mentioned…" He stuck his tongue out in thought before snapping his fingers.

"Right! Here's how I can explain. So, what you're seeing here" he pointed to himself "is an "instance" of the "computer" that is Nick's brain. Since I am so familiar with this form, it is the one I took. What you're gonna notice is that my hair is brown" he pointed at his head which sported brown, long-ish hair "and there's some other minor differences that I'm not gonna point out. Anyways, I am an instance of the original Nick's soul operating, instead of inside a body, with a golem made entirely of mana. The card is like a computer, though infinitely more complex. The body you see is the case."

"Now that I think of it, I was summoned by Anna, and the blue glow is around me. My knowledge of my situation probably stems from the fact that in my lifetime I did, in fact, know these things. I still am a hollow thing with a ghost of the original Nick's personality. Still got the charming looks though!" He winked.

"Next question! This one's from Guest 2." Pause. "What a name. Alright then. This is actually a whole slew of questions! Let's get this over with quickly so I can hurry up and die. The first one is…

"What if Nick told Lucina" He sighed. "Alright, for the sake of my sanity, the questions that refer to "Nick" I'll just say "you" alright? You can't answer so it's alright. Moving on…

"What if you told Lucina about Groundhog day? How would that go?" He paused, putting a finger on his chin. "Considering how stressed out Lucina is at the moment and how strained our relationship is, there's a good chance I'll be put to the blade. If that didn't happen, she'd probably find it terribly ironic or downright insulting. Next one…"

"What if you got the royal armory to pump out "True" Steel and became a wealthy tycoon like Rockerfeller and basically kickstarted capitalism?"

"Well, I'm fairly sure that's what the future me did. Anyways, to answer your question… I plan on doing that now that Marth is the ruler. Also, Emmeryn would probably have me put to the fork in the name of peace for warmongering if I gave her troops advanced equipment so that was a big no-no. Perhaps later…"

"Why are you fine with nobility? Nobility continue to keep the society feudal, and he's grown up with a Capitalist Democracy (I think for the democracy part, anyway. Maybe he's british. Or australian. Actually, doesn't Australia have a democracy? Maybe he's British.)"

"Oh, this one's easy to answer! I'm not. Never been fine with nobility, but when the only example of democracy I have is running the nation into ruins, I'll gladly take the alternative! It's not like I live under any kingdom myself. No paying taxes baby!" he tossed his head back and laughed. "I have no idea why Future Nick didn't remove monarchy in Plegia. Perhaps he couldn't? Whatever, I'm getting sidetracked. The point is, it doesn't affect me, so I don't care for it. I'm kind of occupied with saving the world. Also, FYI, I'm Italian! Pizza, pasta, spaghetti, mandolino, making a mockery of my culture! Anyways, next is…"

"Why don't you put to use his extensive knowledge of how Japan exists to embarass Lon'qu to death?  
"Lon-chan..." Nick deadpanned towards the camera.

"I barely see the guy anyways, running away from Ylisstol notwithstanding. Most of the time we steer clear of each other. I have no patience to try and befriend someone who's clearly uninterested in me. And anyways…" he put his hands in the air "I really like having hands. Such an endeavour would probably result in the loss of them. Next!"

"Why does Nick just accept the world he's living in despite having a strange amount of Japanese culture in it, and likely suffering from a huge amount of culture shock because feudalism?" Nick sighed.

"Well, I did run away. Not being able to look at the Shepherds straight wasn't the only reason I left. Anyways, most of the culture shock I had was adjusting to the new clothes, new foods and new living conditions. It was… better than my expectations, at least at first, so I wasn't too much like a fish out of water. The worst part was not being able to use a phone and having your hand twitch every minute or so towards your pocket to try and read a message or check the time. I'm getting better though, thanks for your concern!

"For the feudalism part… as I said, as I live (or at least used to) with royalty on a daily basis, how much do you think my lifestyle has changed, battles for my life every other day notwithstanding? I laze around all day like trash and I did that in this dimension too. It's not like I can build muscle mass anyways… moving on from that depressing train of thought, next!"

"Is the language Indo-European in origin? Does it have gendered words like Spanish? Does it have many Latin words/bases? What concepts does it have that English lacks? Like words for ideas we don't have words for? Does English have ideas it doesn't? Ex) Does it not have a word for "greed" and thus the concept of wanting things too much is foreign?"

"Unless I've somehow gone crazy/have something altering my brain, it's still good old english. At least the spoken word. Instead, even though the english language was far easier, some fucker after the time of Marth but before the time of Grima went and had a blast reworking the alphabet, thus making my knowledge of words completely obsolete!" He fistpumped sarcastically. "I miss reading so much…" he took one last look at the page and crumpled it in his hand, tossing it behind himself.

"The next question is from-" but it flew out of his hands, shooting itself into the portal. "Huh. Well, it's not for me apparently. Guess I'll just grab another…"

* * *

 _Meanwhile…_

A letter flew straight into the Lodestar's hands while he had been resting after a long day of being. He let out a surprised hum. "A letter?" He asked no one in particular. When he opened it, the paper inside it slipped outside by itself.

"From… Scorin? I suppose that's a pen name." he mused.

"How are you dealing with ruling your country generations after your lifetime?" He read aloud. "This isn't canon, right?" He asked nobody in particular. Out of the air, a soft hum of confirmation rang out. He sighed.

"The first thing I should mention is that I miss Caeda terribly. Things are not the same without her." He sighed once again.

"And, despite what I initially imagined it has been surprisingly… frustrating." He ran a hand through his hair unconsciously. "After the initial awe of the fact that I "returned from the dead to lead Ylisse to greatness once again" he said, too refined to make air quotes "It has been decided that I would become Ylisse's new ruler in wartime. However, this also means that with the loss of power from the Exalt right now, the _surprisingly few_ " a look of genuine surprise crossed his face. "power hungry nobles have started to try and make advances towards me. Some, in a more literal way than others…" he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he recalled the latest damsel that had approached him with… intent.

"Worry not, though. My heart will forever and ever be Caeda's. Another thing that is a, sadly, rather inconvenient setback is the fact that this is a new court with new advisors, and I have already paid for that after our hierarch's sudden betrayal." He let a bit of bitterness in his voice, before recomposing himself. "Also, the borders have changed quite a bit. Who would've thought that after barely two thousand years things would've changed so much?" He asked in a tone that was split between genuine curiosity and sarcasm.

"Overall, it has been very hard…" He ran a hand through his hair unconsciously once again. "But I hope I can offer two lifetimes' worth of wisdom for the good of Ylisse." He smiled. The letter seemed to be content with the answer, because it flew off right in time as another girl approached Marth, swooning over him even as he sighed wistfully.

* * *

Lucina panted, the heat of the desert catching up with her as she practiced swing after swing, always trying to better herself, a trait that she perhaps picked up from her sister. She grabbed the canteen she knew to be empty, trying to get those last few drops that weren't there out. She sighed when it didn't work.

Suddenly, a letter flew into her hands as her skin reddened from the heat paled considerably.

"Oh dear Naga, they've found a way to find us even here…" She whined, opening the letter and hoping to get it over with as soon as possible.

"From" She coughed as her dry throat screamed in protest of her talking. "From Scorin" She raised an eyebrow at the name.

"Was Nick able to prevent or at least stall a first generation Shepherd's death with his foreknowledge of the future?" she frowned.

"Well, I hadn't found out about this "foreknowledge" until very recently so…" She sighed, anger leaving her body after a deep breath. "I assume he must've tried rather hard; it wouldn't have made any sort of sense otherwise. And despite me wanting to kick his ass for it, I shouldn't have taken it out on his younger self." She cracked her knuckles. "However, if he somehow crawls back from the death like he usually does, he can bet there'll be hell to pay. He'll wish he had remained 6 feet under." The letter made a show of raising an eyebrow… somehow, at Lucina's OOC behaviour. She simply smiled at it, asking "Was that enough of an answer?" It simply closed itself. She kept smiling at it, her silver sword suddenly cutting it in half. "Good. Don't come back."

"Alright, the second-to-last question is… uhm…" he tried to pick up the letter, but it seemed to be stuck to the bottom of the box. However, with some hard tugging on his part, the letter…s came loose. All started flying at him, trying to be read first. When he managed to get ahold of one of them and read it, his face immediately turned red as he stabbed himself in the chest with a knife, the card clattering to the ground.

The cameraman moved forward, picking up one letter before a snort, then a chuckle, then full blown laughter came as he read the letters' content.

Shipping letters.

"We'll see guys, we'll see. Now, I think there's one last letter?" Ninni51 asked, moving towards the box as he waved a hand in the air, prompting all of the letters flying around to go into one of his long sleeves where they disappeared.

"This one's from… another anonymous. What's with you guys being so afraid of people knowing your name?" he sighed.

"Well. It reads: I have 3 questions." "Go ahead." He replied, despite being the one who was reading the letter.

"Why is Nick a soldier?" he asked himself, before grabbing his chin.

"Well, you know how Soldiers in Fire Emblem are. Mostly cannon fodder, right? Then RD had the bright idea to make them into perfectly serviceable units. Nick, being a very self-deprecating person, imagined himself during the fight to simply be "One of many fighters, no one important" and so it happened. Of course, the circumstances played against him too, but regardless of what weapon he picked up he would've been one of those enemy cannon fodder classes like soldiers, mercs, fighters… archer wouldn't have worked for him." He pointed out, waving his hand in front of his eye the same way Nick did before.

"Why are there so many Nicks in this story?"

"Well, dear anonymous, I have been challenged by someone who doesn't have a nickname to call them by on this website, to make a story where I could fit as many of myself without breaking the Willing Suspension of Disbelief. I like to believe I'm doing a decent job."

"Can you somehow end this chapter with a reference?" He closed his eyes, before grinning at the camera. With a snap of his fingers, he started disintegrating much in the same way that the Einherjar did before; if much faster.

"I don't wanna go, my dear viewers…" he said before disappearing completely.

 **We've finally got this thing out of the way! We'll… maybe next week return to your scheduled programming. What do you think? Was your thirst for knowledge sated? Myself, I enjoyed this chapter.**

 **Now, my dear readers, I would like to borrow a few minutes of your time to ask you a favour. I would like to see (I'm forcing nobody, but it'd be real nice if someone did), a review that is… an actual review. Like, how the overall fic feels, if there's something that you do not like, how I could improve, perhaps a numerical vote, all that good stuff. Thank you in advance to whoever decides to do it!**

 **I had forgotten to post Nick and Lilina's new stats. Pardon me.**

 **I think that's about it. Thank you everyone for being awesome. Ninni51, out! *drops mic***

 _Nick's Party_

Nick

Otherwordly Soldier

 **Lv** 1 **Exp** 73 (My bitch ass promoted at level 17, flame me)

 **Class:** Basara

 **Stats: Hp** : 33/33 **Str:** 16 **Mag:** 20 **Skl:** 17 **Spd:** 20 **Lck:** 13 **Def:** 12 **Res:** 24

 **Skills:** Riposte; Toss; Rend Heaven; Ice gift (Ice spells cost only 1 HP to cast)

 **Status:** Broken arm

 **Items:** Uruz; Algiz; Fire Card 7/10; Elixir (1/3)

 **Supports:** Miriel **B** ;Roy **B** ;Kellam **C** ;Marth **C** ;Ricken **C** ;Sully **C** ; Lilina **C**

Lilina

Delightful Noble

 **Lv** 15 **Exp** 57

 **Stats: Hp:** 30 **Str:** 8 **Mag:** 18 _(+2)_ **Skl:** 8 **Spd:** 12 **Lck:** 12 **Def:** 5 **Res:** 11

 **Skills:** Magic+2 **;** Absolute focus

 **Inventory:** Bolganone;Elwind; Vulnerary

 **Supports:** Roy **S;** Nick **C**


	24. Chapter 23

**Well, I'm glad people completely ignored what I asked last chapter. *sigh* Anwyays, welcome to the 24** **th** **(technically 25th) chapter of "The Otherwordly Soldier"! Enjoy, Read, and review.**

 **Guest 2: I feel like we haven't had much filler at all in this story. I'll probably remedy to that especially in the timeskip, because I want to make at least two or three chapters about that. Sadly, I kinda cornered myself for any chance of filler (which isn't always a bad thing) the moment I decided that I would have the MC deal with stuff mostly on his own in this part…arc… thingy. And… "mad good" stories? Sugoi! You honor me too much :D**

 **EDIT 07/03/18: This chapter has been completely rewritten because… Let's be frank. It was shit. It might still suck, but not as bad as before.**

 **Chapter 24: Family reunions**

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Francis screamed as he stared at the body in front of him, a sense of dread building up. The boy in front of him was, without the shadow of a doubt, dead.

 ***record scratch* *freeze frame***

You people are probably wondering exactly, how he had gotten to that point from the last time the fic was cut off, huh?

Well, let's start from the beginning…

 _If a depressed teenager fails to kill himself and gets transported to a fictional world-_

No, that wasn't right. This wasn't how he had begun his adventure. He wasn't a teen, he was just moderately depressed on occasion, and he certainly didn't fail to kill himself. Or try, for that matter.

 _A long, long time ago…_

No, that couldn't be. It was too old style, too fairy tale-eque. He needed something unique, something better.

 _This is the story of a-_

No! Ugh. Who paid this joke of a narrator! That's it! He'd be narrating his own backstory. Lights! Camera! Action!

His name was Francis Marley. He was twenty years old, had just finished his first year at the university, knew two languages and was a bit of a shut-in, his social circle was never that big.

However, everything changed when the fire nation- erm, when his brother died. Perhaps his response had been a bit unorthodox, but nobody would fault him for it. He had suddenly become a lot more active, would be going out a lot more, had taken to jog around and threw himself whole into his studies with a renewed vigor. His room had been wiped clean of anything that had been into his brother's possession, not that he had much to begin with. A lot of the things he had were simply hand-me-downs from himself, after all.

To put it shortly, he had done everything in his power to ensure that he wouldn't be reminded of him at all.

And then it happened.

Casually lazing onto _his_ old bed was, well, him. He had a blue aura around himself that was rapidly disintegrating into thin air, almost as if the air itself wascorroding him. He had been browsing through the phone with a bored expression on his face, casually checking out various fanfictions that Francis couldn't be bothered to remember. When the door opened he looked up at him with a disinterested, almost droll look on his face.

"Well, about fucking time you showed up." He casually told him. After that was that whole discussion that he didn't want to bother remembering. It was better this way. After that, he had fallen into the portal casually left into mom's room.

Most people would find the sensation of being dropped through a portal weird, and people with a more vast vocabulary would say that it's jarring, completely mind boggling, absolutely nuts, crazy, lacking a few screws in the brain and a whole slew of other synonyms for "crazy."

For him, it was a lot simpler. Simply put, the sensation could be described as-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

Looking back on it, he would freely admit that it wasn't his proudest moment. For one who was supposed to be a medic, he wasn't that great at keeping a level head under stress. So he kept screaming.

For the first five minutes, anyways. A throat turns raw surprisingly fast, and he certainly didn't want that. After realizing that he wasn't hitting terminal velocity anytime soon despite the impossibility of what was going on, he started inspecting his surroundings. They were, to put it simply, blue. Blue as far as the eye could see, and probably a while beyond that. He certainly couldn't see.

Attempting to reorient himself so that he would fall feet down when he inevitably landed was an interesting matter, simply because, when he tried to, he realized that despite everything, he had no idea where he was falling. The rush of air was nonexistant and his air was too short to determine the direction. To be fair, he wasn't even sure if he was, in fact, falling. So he did what any reasonable person would do, obviously.

He spat into the air.

The little glob of saliva went up for a while, in the opposite direction of where he was falling, which he was facing with his back. Before he could grin in success, however, it proceeded to then go left, turn back and finally decide to fall back towards where _his_ down was, only to somehow hit him on the side of the head.

' _Well, that was helpful._ ' He thought sarcastically.

At least, he reasoned, he had time to prepare for his not-so-immediate demise. What did he know exactly about the situation?

His little brother had disappeared three months ago, time dilatation between dimensions notwithstanding (he shuddered at the idea of his brother being older than him), and had gone to the fictional continent of Ylisse. Somehow.

When he arrived he started screwing with the canon timeline events by becoming a shepherd and doing Paralogue 1,2,4 by himself and saving Emmeryn in chapter 6, afterwards fleeing Ylisstol for… some reason.

The little shit had completely ignored Paralogue 3. Though he couldn't blame him, that was hardly an important one, but he digressed. He was still receiving punishment in the form of annoying for it.

Cordelia had died somewhere in between chapter six and seven… which hasn't happened at all because Emmeryn was bedridden and got later "dethroned" (however temporarily) by none other than King/Prince Marth of Altea. On that topic, Ni' had apparently been going around collecting Einherjars and incurring into the wrath of the Aversa who stole and scattered the Einherjars across time and space, which was another can of worms altogether. At least he now knew that the random encounters were completely canonical.

Then he had send an Einherjar to Earth (what was this dimension called, anyways?) to deal with the fallout of the situation and live his life. Fat lot of good that did, when considering Earth as a dead-magic-zone. That also means that either the Earth _used_ to have magic and for some reason stopped, or… something.

After getting bored of making up theories, he reached into his pocket, grasping for his phone. Which he didn't have, for some reason.

After all of the preparations were done, he concluded that it was a complete mess, but he would be up to the challenge. He could say that he was ready, and he could say it out loud.

In fact, that's exactly what he was doing.

"Bring it on world! Come on! I'm waiting!" He taunted Murphy's law. By all means, that meant that he was about to get smited down. But nothing happened.

"I'm waiting!" He shouted once more. Nothing happened.

"I'm waiting." He crossed his arms, looking around for anything.

"I'm waiting…?" he muttered, unsure. Didn't murphy's law always work?

"I'm wai-"

*thud*

That was the sound that the collision with the ground from a 20 year old male could make. Specifically, a twenty year old male that hits the sand in the middle of the desert.

"What the fuck?!" a familiar voice sounded out from above him, clearly startled.

"That's what I'm supposed to be asking." Francis tried to reply, but with the sand still muffling his face it was reduced to a pathetic "Mlsmmhghm." He may have just rolled a 1 on a speech check. He wasn't sure.

A hand grabbed him from the back of his shirt, lifting him up in the air and putting him on his feet. Slightly concerned on how exactly his brother could be strong enough to do that (he was light, but not _that_ light) he looked at the figure.

"Alright, who are you and what exactly what are you doing here?" in front of him was a foolish samurai warrior wielding- uhh, a short boy levelling a lance at his chest, before lowering as he realized who he was pointing it towards. He was wearing plain cotton clothes that probably were not suited for the desert, if the redness on his shoulders and neck on his otherwise pale skin means anything. One of his arms was in a cast, the other gripping tightly a lance.

So Francis decked him straight in the face. He was angry at him, both for threatening him with a lance and for all the sadness he had made him go through.

A flash of panic crossed Ni's face as he brought up his lance to defend himself when the pointy stick (the analytical part of his mind whispered that it was a Japanese naginata) suddenly disappeared before it could hit him. The fist went through and his face whipped to the side.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Francis shouted at him.

"Alright, I probably deserved that. Don't do that again." Ni' said, before being taken by surprise by a Brotherly Hug™. After a bit of hesitation, he leaned into the hug and returned it (as best as he could've with only one arm) as water started to flow from both of their pairs of eyes as if their tear ducts were broken. "I missed you." Francis choked out, all the emotion that he had buried for months returning with a vengeance. "I missed you so much."

"I'm sorry." He replied. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" he kept repeating like a mantra, burying his face in Francis' shoulder who simply hugged him tighter, barely aware of the moistening on his shirt from both sweat and tears.

After what felt both like hours and not nearly enough, they broke apart, Francis' hand getting caught in Ni's broken arm. "Sorry!" He yelped, retreating the offending appendage, but the boy simply looked unfazed.

"Who did this to you anyways?" He asked his brother. Maybe he wasn't a match for them in combat, but he certainly wasn't gonna leave the person who did this unpunished.

"Don't bother." Ni' snorted in dark amusement. "They've become a modern art ice sculpture anyways." He winced at the careless tone, a few moments passing awkwardly between them. Suddenly, Ni' looked at him.

"Why are you here anyways? I don't mind the company, but… you know… giant portal…" He asked, heading towards a pillar that was half-sunk into the sand for shade.

"You know, the usual. I tripped and fell into a portal after talking to your ghost thingy." Both of them began laughing at the improbability of that phrase combined with the fact that it was actually happening, before Ni's expression suddenly turned angry.

"Hold on, I had Anna make that clone barely a day ago and it already outed itself? Seriously?!" He scoffed in an overly dramatic manner. "It would've been fine if it held for even a few months or something, I would've wrapped things up by then."

"It was dying. "Francis shrugged, prompting a raised eyebrow from Ni' before he dismissed the thought with a wave of his hand. "Whatever. So, what… uh…" he started gesticulating wildly before settling for thrusting a hand at me.

"I'm here to take you home." Francis replied, matter-of-factly. His eyes widened in surprise for a moment before his usual deadpan took place on his face. He stared at him for a few seconds before sighing. "So… tell me… how do you think you could've taken me home, even assuming I _want_ to go?"

"You don't?" Francis replied in surprise, before the rest of the phrase caught up with him, before he assumed a "does not compute" face. "Oh."

Ni' facepalmed. "Oh indeed."

"Hold on, you're telling me I'm stuck here as well now?!" countless scenarios started racing through his mind. His brother sighed.

"Well… at least I can meet an Anna. I still have a favour to cash in. I didn't expect to blow it on that, but…" he sighed.

"What are you even doing out here?" He asked him. He raised a finger into the air as he was answering… and promptly lowered it as he realized something.

" _Holy shit_ " Francis bit down a "Language" that was starting on the tip of his tongue " _What_ am I doing here?" He clutched at his head in a panic.

"I'm not a Shepherd because I left them, I'm not a soldier because I'm loyal to no nations, I'm no brigand because fuck that, I'm no thief because I only ever stole two books, I'm not a scholar, a court mage, a blacksmith, a noble… I mean technically yes but nobility was abolished in Italy a long time ago, what the hell am I?!" he fell to his knees, clutching his head.

"What the hell are you doing?" Francis asked. Sure, his brother was usually overdramatic, but not _this_ much.

"Can it, Fra'?! I'm having an existential crisis over here!" Well okay then. Guess he had to step in to save the day.

"You're a… a wanderer, I guess?" He told him, finding the first suitable option, though it came off more as a question.

"A wanderer!" He snapped his fingers, nodding victoriously as if he had just found out the secrets to the universe. "That's right. Thanks."

"By the way, what have _you_ been doing lately? I haven't seen you in months. You basically know everything I've been through but I know nothing!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Well, a bit of this and a lot of that." Francis answered, smirking as his brother's face reddened up and he fought to keep the scowl off his face, though if in anger or because of the heat he didn't know.

"Oh. That must've been nice." He said, trying to sound nonplussed.

"It wasn't." he contradicted evenly. A few seconds passed before Ni' finally snapped, groaning.

"Come on, tell meeeeee…" he whined.

"Fine. It's not that interesting." he started recalling the events following the nine weeks that had passed since his disappearance. Life hadn't actually changed all that much, despite everything. It simply felt a lot… emptier. There was supposed to be someone lying in the bed next to his, cracking stupid jokes, whining about going to school, reading fanfiction like it was nobody's business. And instead… nothing. Empty. Gone. Just like that. Mom was also a hell of a lot sadder.

"F-funeral?" He asked.

"Mmh. The police declared you dead and gone, so…" and wasn't that a weird phrase to say to someone, especially when they're alive and well?

Hold on. He was alive, right?

He poked him in the cheek, finding a bit of moisture left on his finger. He definitely hadn't become a ghost, but he had, quite literally, froze up. Air started to colden up, to the point where his irregular breath was coming off in condensation.

"H-hey, we're gonna prove them wrong! You're gonna have a grand entrance, there's gonna be a welcome back party… well, as soon as we can assemble one, and everything, it'll be great!" He tried to reassure the boy who had now lowered himself to sit on the ground hugging his knees. Ice began to creep under him.

"R-right… right…" He whispered. Then, even lower, under his breath he mumbled "I truly have nothing left now…" he hung his head miserably before mumbling "by the way, catch. It's… like, july or something? A bit late, but happy birthday." And suddenly, two objects were being tossed towards him, barely catching the first while the second clattered into the sand. One was a simple pendant with a golden chain and a pretty huge red gem (A ruby perhaps?) embedded into it. It was beautiful in its simplicity. He liked these kind of things. He didn't know what it did (if it did anything at all) but he wrapped it around his neck all the same. A gift was a gift. However, he soon was engulfed in a shower of golden sparks as the pendant vanished. He felt… slightly safer, though he couldn't quite place how.

The other, however, was a small statue, no bigger than my hand, made out of marble. It depicted a woman with a crown of thorns around her head. Saying it was a statue was a bit of an exaggeration; it was barely a bust, lacking anything besides the torso and the head. It had fallen into the sand, thankfully not breaking upon impact. He guessed this was what Divine Icons looked like, if the previous one was a Talisman. He was a tad sad that it had just disappeared, but it was whatever.

As he picked it up, he asked "What am I supposed to do with this?" The talisman was kind of obvious. It was a pendant, and it had activated upon being wore. But this? It was a statue. No immediate use for a statue came to him aside from putting it on display or using it as a blunt object, though the latter definitely didn't feel like the correct use.

"Hell if I know. I'm warning you though, any Dracoshield or Seraph Robe we come across is mine." He mumbled, still not removing his head from in between his knees. He had, however, stopped breathing raggedly and the frost on the ground was giving in to the deadly lazer that was the sun. That was good. He nodded nevertheless. If the amount of diseases he had as a kid was anything to go by, he was probably pretty frail.

But then he shook his head, sighing dramatically with a smirk on his face.

"Great, as if _that_ wasn't enough, now I'm stuck babysitting my brother too while I wander…"

"Excuse me?!" I asked, half angry and half taking the opportunity to change topic for what it was. But still, I did not need babysitting!

"Can you hold your own in a fight? Because we're into enemy territory here." he asked me.

"Can _you_?" Francis asked back. He had a freaking broken arm, how was he gonna fight? Unless-

With a deadpan on his face, he raised his right hand into the air and water appeared in his hands, before quickly moving into a shape that was…

"Real mature." He deadpanned, staring at the ice floating in front of him who was flipping the bird while his brother casually sipped water from a mug, also made of ice.

"How are you doing that anyways?" Francis asked. Tossing the now empty mug behind him and letting the water from the hand fall onto the ground (if that was a non-repeatable spell Francis would've punched him for wasting water in a desert) he raised a hand, waving his fingers dramatically. "Magic." He said with a smug look on his face.

"So… you're a wizard? Mage? What class are you anyways?" he asked.

"What? No. I'm just Harry." He pointed out, prompting a groan from Francis.

"Basara." Which only prompted a confused sound from the back of his throat. "Uhh… Hoshidan class that wields long pointy sticks and uses magic?"

Visible

He sighed, running a hand over his face and finally getting up. "This is why you should've played Fates. You never know when you could drop into a fictional world and the knowledge of it may be the only thing that leads to your survival." He said with a perfectly straight face.

"Anyways… I'm a promoted unit." Which explained the strength he used to pick him up so easily… sorta. Not really, unless reality decided to take a backseat to game rules. On that note, he wondered, what class was he?

"Anyways… you need an affinity for magic. I don't know if you have one." He said. "Actually, if Earth is a dead-magic zone…" the realization hit him like a ton of bricks, before the obvious counterargument did two seconds later.

"Then how did you get it?!" he asked, enraged. There was ONE good thing that could have come out of this whole thing, and he would've not have it taken away from him!

Well, aside from his brother obviously. That was a good thing too.

An infuriating shrug is all he got in return, another mug appearing seemingly out of nowhere in Ni's hands.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"I can test your magical prowess, if you'd like." He said, blatantly ignoring the fact that he was screaming like a bald eagle high on freedom.

"Do it. Now."

"Alright then." He closed his eyes, his face scrunching up in concentration (though he looked as if he had just ate a lemon). After a few minutes that were all the longer by the constant heat and the anticipation.

"As it turns out, a tree probably has more magical capability than you." His brother announced, finally speaking up. Francis was about to give a rebuttal when- "And no, it's not like some fantasy settings where trees are really magicky."

His excitement deflated like a balloon. Kicking a rock, he grumbled "Let's hurry up and get back home then." This was such a scam. In a world where everyone could shoot magic from their fingertips with a simple Second Seal…

…Hold that thought.

"Could it be possible to use a-" but they were cut off by someone suddenly screaming. "Huh?" A little blonde and scantily clad girl was currently barrelling towards them. Specifically, she ran right into Ni's legs, hugging them tight.

"What the-" he started, but he was quickly (not to mention surprisingly) picked up by the little girl. Like, just basically picked up the same way you would pick a crate. Was everyone in this universe ridiculously strong? In the meantime, a ginger and a pinkette had also made their way over here; one trying to explain the situation to the other.

"Gregor doesn't know what took her over! You know Gregor is good fellow, yes? He set you free!" A swell sword and a jailbait… and _someone else._ He didn't know who, though.

Then Nowi started swinging my little brother ala baseball bat, trying to hit Gregor shouting "WHY!" Swing. "WON'T!" Strike one. "YOU!" Strike two. "JUST!" Strike three. You're over Nowi. "LEAVE!" Ouch, she nearly hit him. "ME!" This was probably not good for his brother's health. He couldn't bring himself to care beyond making sure that he didn't hit his broken arm. "ALONE?!" And now she tossed him towards Gregor, the latter thankfully jumping backwards to dodge, simply making his brother roll into the sand.

Meanwhile, the pinkette had made her way over to him, eyes wide with tears threatening to spill. He had already his fair share of teenage drama to deal with with his brother, geeze.

"D-daddy?" has stopped working.

…

So this could be interpreted in a number of ways. For the sake of keeping his sanity, and the rating of the story he'll just go with the safer option and assume this is actually my daughter and not a thot who likes to call people daddy.

Which begs the question: what the hell?

"… Who are you?" he asked, confused before memories rushed him.

" _Francis. You. Have. A. Daughter." The ghost said._

" _So what if I ha- WHAT. I have a wh-what?"_

" _A daughter. Her name's Rose."_

Oh. OH. OHOHOHO FUCK HIM SIDEWAYS WITH A LUNCHBOX.

Thankfully she seemed to share a brief glance with Ni', who made a cutting motion across his neck. Right, he doesn't know that he knew.

What a confusing situation.

"Oh, nothing, hehe!" she giggled nervously. "You just reminded me of someone, that's all! Yes…" she then marched straight over to his brother, probably eager to get away from the situation. He probably would do the same if I were her too.

Well, actually he wouldn't, but he could understand the sentiment.

"Nick!" she shouted. "How good it is to see you again!" She hugged him in a very awkward way because of his arm. Francis stared at the duo oddly. However, the chance to act upon it was taken from him when from atop a dune a man shouted "Get them!"

Fuck.

His companions had similar yet completely different reactions. Since they didn't go to Prometheus' school of running away from things, or more likely because a quick glance revealed that they were completely surrounded, they sprung in a sort of battle formation.

And he said sort of because the only two that at least _seemed_ battle-ready were Ni', who was flipping a card in his fingers _hisbrother_ _ **hislittlebrotherfightingformecan'tdefendhim**_ , and the ginger-haired mercenary who held his sword in his hands. However, due to my meta-knowledge, he knew that the trembling blondie was probably going to be one of their greatest assets. As for the pinkette…

"Shit! I don't have my staff!" she cursed. He was gonna have a talk with her about that later. It didn't matter how old she was, she didn't have the right to curse like that in his presence.

"Stick to us, then." Nick replied. All the humor in his voice was gone, replaced by dead seriousness. He chucked a card at her, which she caught in her hand with ease. "If anyone gets too close, use this. I trust that you know how it works?" She nodded. "Good. Now" another card appeared in between his hands. "Lilina!" he raised it into the air, shouting. Light filled the air, forcing me to turn away. When it stopped, a little girl stood next to him. "Don't let anyone close in on my brother. That's him." He pointed at me. She nodded and skipped over.

"Hold on, what about me?!" He asked. He was _so_ not gonna be left out. He could help! Somehow…

"Stick to the backline with Rose." He ordered, in a no-nonsense tone.

His mind was racing at a thousand paces a minute by now, looking at their enemies. They were slowly closing in, having the numbers advantage. Some of their mages were preparing what he assumed to be dark magic, though thunder looked to be present as well. Their group had come from the south, and there were a few houses here and there.

Something clicked in his mind; this was the map of chapter eight.

And they were where Gregor and Nowi would usually spawn. A quick glance around him only strengthened the theory; there were huge remains of what no doubt used to be dragons, some villages around us and an oasis nearby.

"I… I think I got something." All of the attention was directed towards him now as he gestured. He pointed towards the north, indicating a small Plegian encampment.

"You see that part where the bones are separated? We'll get over there as fast as possible, breaking through their cavalry. They should be incapacitated a bit from the sand anyways, it's probably gonna be easier than it sounds. There should be a village or something there, if memory serves correctly. Then, uh…" He squeezed my mind for any sort of advantage that we could get. "The villagers probably like these people as much as we do. Which is to say, not at all. We could probably get at least some resources, or hell, if we're lucky someone to back us. Who is our strongest fighter?" He asked. The voices of three members of our group came out.

"Me." Gregor, Nowi and Nick said confidently at the same time. They all looked surprised at each other, but Gregor was quick to point out something.

"Broken arm isn't good to fight, yes? Leave fight to Gregor." His brother made a noiseless 'O' with his mouth and simply stared at his arm.

"Very well. How did that quote from Ephraim go? I don't pick fights that I can't win?" Francis asked himself rethorically. "Well, I certainly seem to be doing that now. Let's just hope we can tip the scales, as Robin would say, or even the odds, or-"

"We get it! Can we just go now? We're about to get killed." his brother groaned, pointing at a dark mage that had shot a blast of dark magic at him. He simply batted it aside as if it were nothing.

"Fine. Let's break the north. Everyone, go!"

 **And so it begins with our second protagonist. To be honest, he won't be for a while, but it's the thought that counts. I also wanted to try and portray Nick from the perspective of an outsider with his weird quirks like lack of reaction to pain, suddenly zoning off with a deadpan on his face and such. I think I did pretty well. This is all for today, Ninni51, out.** *drops mic*

Francis

LV4 EXP 00

Class: Archer

 **HP** : 22/22 80% **Str** : 10 55% **Mag** : 0 0% **Skl:** 9 (+2) 70% **Spd:** 11 60% **Lck:** 13 65% **Def:** 5 40% **Res:** 0 10%

Skills: **Skill+2; Thicker than water***

*When within three spaces of a related unit, both units deal/receive +3/-3.

Weapon rank: **Bows** (D)

Bond support: Nick 10%, Rose 10%


	25. Chapter 24

**Hello fellas! I'm sorry for the lateness of this chapter, but I'm still trying to juggle having two fanfictions at the same time. I think I'm finally getting settled though.**

 **Guest 2: I'll try to revise more, though what you said wasn't particularly helpful. Or polite, for that matter. And everything is going at the pace that I believe it should go at. Can you believe how incredibly boring things would get if I spent 40k in between each chapter?**

 **ScorinVoidseeker: I'll do it again sometime in the future, though not anytime soon. As for your other question… that was actually sort of the interpretation that I wanted to give, yeah. Though, not you in particular. You were one of the more… let's say,** _ **tame**_ **ones. *shudders* Shippers…  
And yes, Francis happens to be my brother for real. I'm still unsure whether or not to give him actual magic, but know that he's gonna whine nearly all the time about it.  
The Omakes happen when I have an interesting idea that's too silly or outlandish for the story to hold. I simply didn't have anything to put in there at the time, plus the previous chapter had basically been one massive omake. As for whether he's comfortable with it… his words, not mine "It's your story. Do what you want. Although I would've preferred Lucina." And I'm still unsure on the shipping. What is sure is that I'm not gonna leave it up to the readers. **

**Nick, the one most likely to be used as a baseball bat.**

 **Guys, you know what really irks me? When shitty coincidences happen. You know Ophelia, Lissa's granddaughter? She has a personal tome called Missiletainn.**

 **It's ice magic. I only found out later. God fucking damn it-**

 **Anyways, read and review, fellas!**

 **25: Treading on thin ice**

This day couldn't be going fucking worse, I tell you.

( _Can't even say it could rain, since we're in the middle of the desert. Rain would actually be helpful right now.)_

Yeah, exactly.

I got my ass handed to me today, which earned me a broken arm.

I've sent Cordelia back and they're probably sending a search party for me.

I fucked up my directions in a spectacular way, thinking it was still dawn when I woke up. It was actually already past twelve, which meant I ended up going NORTH instead of south.

I still haven't eaten anything.

My brother somehow got into this world, because OF COURSE HE WAS GONNA GET IN HERE HE HAS A DAUGHTER.

( _To be honest, fate just played us using ourselves.)_

I KNOW

THAT'S WHAT'S SO FRUSTRATING ABOUT IT

Then I got swung around as if I were a FREAKING MACE by a dragon loli.

And now I have to follow the orders of someone who hasn't even completed Eliwood mode!

( _Well, his strategy is sound though. Would you have done anything else?)_

I…

( _Nevermind, stupid question. You would've probably charged blindly against all of them.)_

I could've afforded to do it!

( _… This is the mindset that makes people get mad at you.)_

Well fuck you too.

 _(In the meantime, while this beautiful conversation played out, four things have happened: Nowi has transformed, much to the surprise of everyone sans you and Rose. Gregor and the newly transformed Nowi have begun charging, followed by your brother and Lilina. You've been standing around, with the same mage from before hitting you in the back, and Rose has been staring at you oddly, waving a hand in front of your face.)_

Oh.

"Are you alright, uncle?" She asked. A few moments passed as I briefly pondered whether or not I should lie, before I sighed and said. "No. I'm not." I was gonna leave it at that, but then I thought of something. "Give this to Fra' for me, will you?" I asked as I summoned the shield in my hand. She stared at me for a second before nodding and starting to follow our frontline, shield in hand. I was about to do so as well when a THIRD blast of dark magic hit my back.

I turned to see the five (actually three, if you count only fighters) of them impact with the two horsemen, one holding a lance and the other a sword. The lance guy was promptly felled by dragon fire. He never even stood a chance as the tar-like substance was hurled onto the rider, melting him down. Ouch.

The other tried to get a hit in on Gregor, but he jumped back into the sand, stumbling only slightly. The poor horse, however, was not as lucky: unused to the desert and without being able to compensate for the lunge its rider made, it fell face first into the ground. Fairly sure that its left front leg broke too. More importantly, its rider was sent flying right in front of Gregor, who planted a boot on his head, most likely knocking him out.

Well, it seemed they didn't need me right now. Guess I'll visit the village to my left then, to avoid it from being-

A fourth ball of shadow impacted against my back. This guy certainly chose the wrong day to be a fucking idiot. I turned around, nearly growling at my opponent from how mad I was, only to realize that a lot more people had made their way to me. Quickly counting… three barbarians, a myrmidon, and the shaman from before. The other guys were ignoring me in favour of going after my brother.

" ( _You should get distracted way less on the battlefield. One of these days it's gonna cost you.)_

Yeah, yeah. But it's definitely not today.

"onethreefiveeight Ten on one? Come on guys. It's not fair." I grinned ferally.

"You definitely should've brought more people."

( _ **STOP**_ _WITH THE ONE-LINERS. What are you, an anime protagonist?)_

I pouted (in my head) at him. He wasn't even gonna let me have my fun?

"Because if you wanna kill me…" I started, mana-created-water turning into a spear floating slightly above my right hand. They had the sense to at least stop and look vaguely threatened.

"You're gonna have to catch me first!" I said, sprinting past the cavalier that was closing in from the south, my icy spear shooting itself into his midsection, knocking him off his horse and impaling him onto the ground. The ice tinged itself a bright red color.

Arriving to the oasis, I turned around to see that they were, understandably, all trying

Alright, focus… I closed my eyes as I willed the water to come out and encase the legs. I opened my eyes to see that it was actually working: they were all staring at me in alarm as his legs became stuck. And then… freeze!

Holy shit it actually worked. Now onto running away again.

( _Hold on, aren't you gonna fight them head on?)_

Fuck no. The last time I went against more people at once I wasn't handicapped and even then it was way too close for comfort. I'll just act as a distraction for these goons.

( _… I'll admit, I'm both proud and surprised to see you learn from your mistakes.)_

And I feel both nice and insulted from that.

( _Fair enough.)_

Another blast of dark magic struck me in the back. It was starting to go numb, but numb was a constant state of being with me so I wasn't too preoccupied.

( _I'm preoccupied that you're not preoccupied about that.)_

Anyways, I actually managed to get inside the village that was built all around the oasis, running around the small barricade that blocked them from the battle itself. It was… small, to say the least, barely even a village. A handful of houses made of sandstone, a few merchants going on about their lives in the plaza of (An Anna included, Naga fucking damn it). Even smaller than the village I helped to protect with Anna. Four-scratch that, five men, two women and a child were going about with their daily lives. The sounds of battle didn't reach here, so I guess it was normal.

( _Isn't a dragon's skeleton supposed to be here? Has it been moved? The village is bigger than I remember too…)_

"Everyone! There's a battle going on! Get into your houses!" I shouted at the top of my lungs into the village. The effect was immediate. The villagers began panicking scrambling to get inside somewhere as the enemies approached. I heard thumps from the doors, confirming that they were barring the doors. Good.

Only two of them remained; one of the men that I saw earlier, and the little kid. Both of them had bright green hair, the father having a beard of the same color and hazel eyes. He was carrying what seemed to be his daughter on his shoulders, who was sucking on her thumb in a very uninterested manner. He grabbed my wrist.

"Come on son, get moving!" the guy shouted. I wrenched my hand free from him.

"I can't! My friends are fighting out there! Now get in- SHIT, DUCK!" I shouted, tackling him as a ball of darkness flew over both of our heads. A silent gasp that I couldn't keep in tore its way out of my lips as I fell onto my arm, opening the wound again and no doubt breaking it even more. The child on his shoulders fell off, but quickly got up and toddled over back to us.

"Good, good. It's been a while since we've sacrifice a brat to our fell savior Grima." The dark mage who shot the aforementioned blob of darkness chuckled. "Two brats even. Ain't this our lucky day guys?" He asked. Four of the eight guys behind him chuckled, while the others remained stoic.

( _Mercenaries.)_

Uhh… It's two myrmidons, a cavalier, three shamans, a priest-

( _Not what I- you little shit, you know exactly what I mean.)_

Whatever.

I remained silent for the time being while getting up, still panting from the painful experience of _falling on my broken fucking arm_.If Lissa was here she'd be absolutely livid and punt me through a wall for injuring myself further.

( _Then why do your emotions feel like you're looking forward to that? Do you perhaps have a… crush?)_

No. It's blatant masochism. I blame my extraordinary pain tolerance.

"You can't do that! We have already paid our dues Father Chalard! Leave us alone!" the man behind me shouted. I turned to him with a "Really?" look.

"Well, under normal circumstances, it would appear so, but it just so happens that you're providing asylum to an Ylissean soldier and well… should a man or two disappear while they're doing so, we would all know what happened…" he let out a raspy laugh, in which the two axe fighters and shamans behind him laughed. They were in a square formation with the dark mage who spoke at the center, while the mercenaries were in an arrow formation in front of them, protecting.

"But-but-" The man said, clearly taken off guard before doing what any sensible person would do. He ran.

Without his daughter.

"Your daughter man!" I shouted over to him, but he surprisingly called back. "She ain't mine!" And suddenly ducked into a house, barring it off as well.

( _I'm not usually the one to say this, but what a f*****g c**t.)_

Well then.

"Heya pipsqueak." I said, grabbing the astonished child by her armpits, who looked to be on the verge of tears. "Things are gonna get pretty scary, but I need you to hold on tightly and do whatever I tell you to. Can you do that for me?" She nodded tearily, hugging me tightly around my neck as I held her by the crook of my _broken_ arm. I turned to stare at the men that were closing in on me. They all had taken out their weapons, and the two mercenaries were advancing warily. Smart guys. The rest… not so much. They had begun dashing towards me. Well, it'll make it all the easier to do this.

"Hold your breath, alright?" I said, and without waiting for an answer I dived headfirst into the oasis.

I'm gonna pull one out of Todoroki Shouto's books. Do you think I'm gonna get a copyright strike?

( _You're no longer bound by the laws of your world, Nick. You gotta Let It Go.)_

We'll leave the readers frozen solid if we continue like this.

( _Agreed. We definitely have to chill with these puns.)_

Thrusting my hand out as I swam, I willed for the massive body of water that was the oasis to freeze while focusing on lowering its temperature down to the maximum it could. I had zero idea of what I was doing, but if Celsius could pull it off I should be able to as well, right?

The answer was… a surprising yes. Things hardly go my way when I first try them, so I'm glad that it actually worked in a situation like this one. I could not afford to make mistakes now.

I broke the surface of the water from convenient hole in the ice I had left and opened my eyes to see that five of the men had their legs actually encased in ice. However…

"Nice parlor trick, brat." The myrmidon who was free spoke up for the first time. He had bright yellow hair and a bandanna keeping it up. "But that's not gonna be enough." He dashed for me.

 _DodgeDodgeDodge_ _ **Dodgetoofast-**_

A dent in my armor was left as the guy stabbed into my armor's side, thankfully without actually hitting any vital part. However, that didn't mean it didn't hurt. I was knocked back and sent skidding from the sheer strength put behind the blow and the icy ground. I grimaced as I said "Parlor trick, huh?" I asked rethorically. "Well, then you're gonna love this! Ice Knife!" I called, as three spears of ice materialized on my hand. I had already done this with the wyvern riders already, it was one of the easiest spells to pull off.

Raising my hand into the air, the spears followed my hand. The man tried to dash towards me, but he apparently forgot about the frozen ground, because he slipped while I casually skated outside of his reach. A brutal show of gore appeared as his body began spraying blood after I lowered my hand. He wasn't dead, I made sure that I didn't hit anything vital, just his shoulder and thigh, but it was enough to make him turn tail and run screaming and slipping.

What I didn't expect to happen, however, was the priest turning his back to me to fire an orb of darkness at his runaway ally. The other four grimleal simply chuckled while staring at the guy, uncaring of their frozen legs while the one who was attacking me looked genuinely shocked, both at his employee's actions as much as I was.

I stared as the guy screamed, writhing onto the ground as the darkness literally _ate_ him. It was a sickening scene, and I was forever thankful that the child in my hands, who was shivering from the cold, didn't see any of it.

The cavalier decided to try and turn coat on the man because of what he had done. He charged at him, the horse surprisingly not slipping on ice, but one of the bandits who were chuckling suddenly tossed himself in the way of the lance, getting impaled. He moaned lightly as he died. A blast of dark magic finished his life as he too was turned into a writhing mess of eaten flesh.

"Well? Aren't you going to kill him? Or do you want to meet the same fate your brothers did?" 'Chalard' asked, looking straight into the eyes of the man who had his brother just ripped from him. Three of the men chuckled while the priest raised a staff. Did these guys even have a soul? All they seemed to be was stereotypical minions for the guy…

However, I didn't have time to ponder any further as the barbarian suddenly glowed and growled in frustration and started charging at me, a whole new demeanor from the guy.

"Are you sure what you're doing is a good idea?" I asked him, while starting to skate away from him. He was slipping on the ice like his brother, but not as much as I hoped he would be. I raised my hand once more, but he seemed to be ready to counter it, because he took out both of the throwing axes from his bel and chucked one of them at me. I simply dodged out of the way.

"Is that the best you can do?" I taunted creating my ice spears in my hand once again, but noticed that the guy had been smirking. He tossed the other axe to me and I dodged back once again, the axe passing harmlessly through my legs but effectively making me drop the spell. I stared at the guy who was… slowly moving towards me, trying not to trip on the icy surface. I raised an eyebrow at him. "zat seriously all you're gonna do? Slowly make your way towards me like that while interrupting my spells? You're gonna run out of axes." I turned my stare for just a second to the others in the back, but it seemed all they were interested in was freeing themselves of my icy prison. Good.

I raised my hand in the air and for the third time an axe was tossed my way. I had to lower my hand to let the axe sail over it. "You're sure an annoying fellow, aren't you? You're also out of axes though. Unless you plan on tossing me that huge one on your back." I casually called. He had a huge twin-headed axe on his back that promised pain to anyone stupid enough to stand in its way.

"Don't worry, little sheep. Everything's gonna be over soon." He grinned, a bloodlusty look in his eyes that certainly had _not_ been there before. I was about to ask what he meant when suddenly Law interrupted.

( _Shit, behind you!)_

I quickly whirled around to realize that I had my back to a myrmidon who I hadn't seen free himself and sneak up behind me. Turning back to the guy, the crazed glint in his eyes had magnified tenfold, and he began running towards me as fast as he could with his axe in his hands.

I tried to dodge, but with nowhere to run I couldn't get out of there in time-

The kid whimpering as she was about to meet an axe head on-

( _How can you make these horrible puns right now?)_

Ignoring my other self, I raised an ice wall in front of me and put the kid between me and the ice wall, my back to the axe guy. I whirled around once again, steeling myself-

The axe hit me square in the chest. I felt it as it destroyed nearly everything in its path, and sadly at the time it was me; I felt my ribs crack as my back was steadily being held up by the icy wall. I looked down and saw that the kid was staring back at me with wide eyes, before running away from under my legs, the ice hindering her a little. I agreed; this was certainly not a show for children.

( _And yet you're the star here.)_

Yeah. Exhilarating, isn't it?

I felt as my ribs finally gave way to the axe, meeting more flesh painfully. After what felt like an eternity, the offending weapon finally being retracted from my ribs where it pressed very painfully; the motion alone making me gasp out non-existent air. That didn't mean nothing came out of my mouth; I spat out a mouthful of blood in the guy's face. However, he didn't look like he was even remotely concerned by it. He started laughing as he removed the axe fully, removing my only support as I fell to the ground. I mustered what little force I had to lift myself back up while the man cackled gleefully (crazily).

"That…" I wheezed. "That definitely ranks fourth on the most urgh" I hunched over as I spat another glob of blood. It was rapidly starting to pool under me. "On the most painful experiences I've felt. Not quite podium, but you should be proud, right?" I joked. "Let's hope this works or I'll be like a tomato on a cutting board…" I muttered.

Channelling the magic into my hand, I ducked under the axe that was about to take my breath (and my neck) away, I extended my hand towards him. From the already frozen ground, a massive hand (though claw would be more accurate) of ice came out, homing in to my attacker. Not expecting this, he didn't have time to react and simply let himself be grabbed. He was stuck in it, miserably trying to rip himself free of the hand while the frostbite started spreading on his skin.

The myrmidon from before came rushing at me, the same crazed look as the guy from before. Gathering ice around my right hand, I narrowly dodged the blade and slashed the guy into two.

I looked at him in the eyes, but saw only anger on him, not the desperation I expected but not hoped, I wasn't a monster…?

 _(Why did that come out as a question?)_

Ignoring my inner voice, I made my way to the guy. When he looked at me, he struggled even further, but it was to reach his weapon on the ground rather than to set himself free. The guy had gone completely stir crazy.

"I'll put you out of your misery." I said, without a hint of emotion in my voice, completely done with this shit. The guy didn't reply to me, he hadn't even heard me. I sighed.

Channelling mana once again in my hand, I let my hand be coated in ice. I got even closer to him and grabbed his throat. Frost spread over his neck as fast as it could, leaving him in a silent gasp of anger. I squeezed, and the warmth of blood greeted my hand in between all the frost from the ice. The claw, finally satisfied, let its prize fall down in a fountain of blood and frost.

"I hope you loved your brothers just as much as I did mine." I told him. My hand fell to my side once more, but only for a moment as I grabbed the little flask that was at my side, downing it in one go. There wasn't much left of it anyways.

( _That was… brutal.)_

Heh, guess I've gotten colder Law.

( _…)_

Feeling my chest get repaired, I briefly wondered if I wasn't doing more damage sealing the wound without repairing my ribs. I could feel them puncturing in my chest, but thankfully not bursting through a lung. Yet.

A slow clapping snapped me out of my staring at the dead man as the Grimleals made their way over to me.

"Amazing. Such a great power in such a tiny body. You will make an exquisite sacrifice." "Father Chalard" laughed. The man wasn't all right in the head.

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen old man. I'm very pissed right now, so you better turn tail and leave this village alone." I growled, this guy was already pissing me off. Those two from before were probably brainwashed into fighting somehow, I can just feel it.

"Oh? Ha ha ha, you dare defy Grima, god of annihilation?" And with a sweeping gesture of his hand, a globe of darkness slammed harmlessly into my chest.

"Yes. Yes I do. Let's hope this works because I'll look like an idiot otherwise…" I muttered under my breath.

'Magic is all about visualization, right?'

( _Mostly. You obviously need to visualize what you're doing happening, or you won't even know how to direct the flow of magic. Then you need to know if-_

Yeah, yeah. Now shut up, I'm gonna visualize a way to kick this guy's ass.

"Well. You've brought this upon yourselves." I said with a confidence I wasn't feeling. Making my hands meet, I united them into a Ram seal straight out of Naruto.

"Hyoton: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!" I shouted. To the surprise of every party included, a dome of twelve mirrors lifted themselves from the ground around them, completely trapping them in an open dodecahedron of mirrors. Sadly, despite my apparent affinity for ice magic, I couldn't do reality-bending bullshit like entering the mirrors at will, so it was just a dome. But it would serve its purpose well enough.

"Samu! Kill the little girl!" The dark mage shouted, pointing at the kid that was looking at me from far away. With a nod and a chuckle, one of the minions dashed towards the clearly open path between me and him as I got in between him and the green-haired child. When he tossed an axe at me, I simply leaned out of the way, letting it pass harmlessly to my side. And when he finally arrived right in between two of the mirrors…

"Flip." Following my waving hand gesture, the two mirrors that he was closest to flipped to face him. "Crush." I said, no. This was barely the husk of a man. Clapping my hands (with a good deal of difficulty thanks to the sling) together, the ice replicated my gesture. Suddenly, in between my hands there was a resistance. I pressed them harder together. I heard a sickening crunch in front of me as the man was crushed, thankfully not in a spray of gore as his neck had been the first part to give way. I let my hands drop.

I pointed my hand towards the other man, who was waiting for orders from the priest who looked horrified at the prospect of being killed as he realized that I was very capable of doing exactly that. "Aurora beam." I calmly stated as if I was talking about the weather. Which I suppose I was.

Today's weather is ass-kicking with a chance of death.

Interestingly enough, it didn't come from my hand; one of the mirror that was closer to me shattered, turning into a much smaller prism. Flying above both our heads, it started gathering energy from the sun, shining a nice rainbow color. I suppose physics still had to come into play, even if I didn't understand them.

"FIRE!" I shouted. All the light that had been gathered into the prism condensed into a beam of rainbow light that hit the man in the chest. He fell to the ground, blood pooling under him. He didn't get back up.

Balling my fist and doing what basically amounted to fistpumping, a spike of ice emerged from under the grimleal-robed priest, impaling him.

"As for you, "Father" Chalard…" I taunted. The man deserved this. A flick of my wrist had the remaining eleven mirrors shatter, but instead of dropping into the ground, they all became sharp shards that hung in the air. I let my hand hang up in the air, keeping all these ice shards was not nearly as easy as it looked.

"Any last words?" I asked. This guy was a mage; it's not like he could hurt me. Might as well enjoy the moment as much as I could.

( _That's a bad idea, don't be a stereotypical villain please Nick-_

"Just one, boy. Luna!" He shouted. As a globe of darkness that shined with a silvery glint appeared in his hands. I lowered my hand, and all the shards of ice started chasing after the guy.

Too little; too late; he had already fired. And I was right in its way.

I could only stare in shock as the ball collided with my chest, a feeling of numbness that despite the cold, still felt…

( _WrONg_ _ **WRoNG**_ _ **WroNg**_ _ **ThEDaRKnESsStOPIT!)**_

I fell to the ground as the whole numbness spread to even my brain; it was too much to handle.

I blacked out, not sure which was up and down, empty or filled, human or monster, alive or not. What was I?

With the last thing I could see being Chalard's body being torn asunder, a drop of something gooey suddenly felt in my mouth. I hope it wasn't blood. My muscles spasmed slightly as I blacked out completely.

* * *

 **This chapter has been Beta'd by Kidemonas! That's it. Wow. This is the first chapter where I have nothing to say. This is weird. So… here's the stats and the Omake I guess.**

Nick

Otherwordly Soldier

 **Lv** 3 **Exp** 12

 **Class:** Basara

 **Stats: Hp** : **0**!/35 **Str:** **0 (20)** **Mag:** 21 **Skl:** 17 **Spd:** 22 **Lck:** 14 **Def:** 12 **Res:** 25

 **Skills:** Riposte; Toss; Rend Heaven; Ice gift (Ice spells cost only 1 HP to cast)

 **Status:** Broken arm; Broken Ribs*; Unconscious*;

* **Moving** more than 3 spaces per turn causes **Bleeding** (Poison like state, removed by healing.)

*Unit is unconscious. Cannot **Move** , **Attack** or **Talk**.

 **Items:** Uruz; Convoy

 **Supports:** Miriel **B** ;Roy **B** ;Kellam **C** ;Marth **C** ;Ricken **C** ;Sully **C** ; Lilina **C**

 **Bond Support:** Francis: 10%, Rose 5%

* * *

 **Omake: Marth can't tech the fangirls**

I quickly whirled around to realize that I had my back to a myrmidon who I hadn't seen free himself and sneak up behind me. Turning back to the guy, the crazed glint in his eyes had magnified tenfold, and he began running towards me as fast as he could with his axe in his hands.

I tried to dodge, but with nowhere to run I couldn't get out of there in time-

The kid whimpering as she was about to meet an axe head on-

( _How can you make these horrible puns right now?)_

Ignoring my other self, I raised an ice wall in front of me and put the kid between me and the ice wall, my back to the axe guy. I whirled around once again, steeling myself-

But the hit never arrived. However, I felt the gripping sensation of a hand on my neck, and opening my eyes it was-

"Marth?"

"Please, please unsummon me." He pleaded to me, still gripping my neck before I managed to wriggle my way out of his grasp.

"What's going on? How did I even get here?!" I asked him.

"Suitors. And I grabbed you." He muttered as he started looking around himself.

"You… grabbed me?" I asked, incredulous.

"Yes, but we have no time for that. We need to hide, or else- THEY'RE HERE!" he screamed.

Suddenly, from the doors that led to the Throne room that we were currently in, a massive amount of women came out, chanting "Marry me, King Marth!"

Creating a large mass of water, I lifted it up to create a wall and made if freeze. A solid wall of ice separated us from the screaming women.

"Fangirls?" I asked. He nodded, his left eye twitching in nervousness.

"So… this is what you've been up to…?" I asked him.

"You don't even have any idea. It just keeps getting worse. They've even started using rescue staves-" whatever he had been saying was cut off by his body glowing and being lifted up in the air, only to disappear in a blue light.

"Poor Marth…" I muttered.

( _Another brave man has been felled in the battle against the thots.)_

 _In another dimension…_

"Jaegan." Queen Caeda barked out in anger, prompting the elderly knight to quickly arrive.

"Yes Milady?" he asked in fear. Not of her though, of her wing spear. Him being transformed into a Great Knight by the Awakening laws made him twice as weak towards the thing.

"Fetch my dragon. My dear Marthipan is getting molested."

"Yes ma'am."

The fangirls never knew what hit them.


	26. Chapter 25

**So... I suppose I should apologize for the lateness and topic of this chapter. I just couldn't seem to bring myself to write it. You'll realize as you read.**

 **ScorinVoidSeeker: I swear. He's whined to me about not having magic even in real life .**

 **Guest 2: A month of wait is enough to wait for you to tear me a metaphorical new one. Sorry. You can still post what you think of the fic, though.**

 **Chapter 26: Curtain Call**

Francis ran, uselessly shaking the sand out of his Nikes as his trusty minions newfound friends raced ahead of him to meet head on the Grimleal; Nowi started raining from the skies something that was like… a thick mist? No idea. As Nowi continued exhaling mercenaries' little sisters it reached one of the cavaliers barring their path and as the rush of cold hit even him so far away, completely subverting the heat of the desert. Francis decided that he was never gonna piss off any dragon he met. On the other hand…

He knew it! Nowi was actually a divine dragon! Take that forums that said there is no way to prove it!

Sadly, he had no actual way to confirm this besides the huge blast of cold that looked like the Mist Breath animation.

As he was lost in staring it amazement at Nowi, his daughter caught up with him. He nearly punched the lights outta her before realizing that it was just her, the metaphorical elephant in the room.

"Here! Uncle Nick wants you to have this." Uncle? Nick? Is this how people call him here? Snapping him out of his musings was the shield handed to him by a pinkette.

It was a shield. That was it. "Okay? Thanks, I guess?" he told her, grabbing the shield out of her hands and testing its weight. It was heavy-ish, but nothing that he couldn't handle, to be honest. He doubted he could just lug it around all day long without his arms getting sore, but at least until battle stopped… It looked pretty sturdy too; it could probably stop a gunshot from hitting me, though he wasn't counting on that. His mind was his greatest weapon after all.

"Alright then. Here's the plan. Me and Rose are gonna warn the settlement about the fighting and try to rally up some people to fight with us, since we're noncombatants while you guys start running a perimeter of the place." Lilina, Rose and Gregor, seemed to understand clearly what to do, while Nowi just stared at him quizzically. He sighed, crouching down to meet her eye-to-eye.

"I and Rose are gonna get more people to fight off the bad guys. You'll circle the village and fight off the bad guys who arrive in the meantime." Her lips parted in an 'O' shape and she made a mock salute, sticking out her tongue. Francis was forced to look away lest he start cooing at how cute the little girl looked, but that still didn't manage to spare her from an headpat.

"Alright everyone, let's move out before they decide to jump the gun and come get us." He waved at Rose to follow him while the girl looked like she had just bit (or read, assuming he had done his job as a father correctly) a lemon. Everyone just stared at him weirdly for reasons he couldn't imagine for the grand total of two seconds, before he realized. "Oh! Jump the gun is a saying. It means being hasty." And he turned back before anyone could tell him anything about it. He would definitely go looking for a book in local sayings and such.

"Let's go, Rose! Everyone, cover us!" He ordered. Surprisingly, everyone complied. Even more surprisingly, he managed to say all that without his voice shaking once. That was a huge deal in commanding people. Perhaps he could go and become Robin's apprentice or something. He would also have to become a Shepherd, duh. He'd probably be joining on account of being his brother's brother.

Hold on, wasn't he trying to get home?

"Halt!" A voice suddenly boomed in front of him. Oh, they had reached the village already, two swordsmen resting under the shade created by the bones of the dead dragon now pointing their swords at him. He hadn't noticed. "State your business." The guardsman said.

"We need to warn everyone to stay inside!" Francis shouted at them. "There's a fight going on! The Grimleal are attacking!" somehow, without looking, he got the feeling that someone was facepalming.

His daughter, thankfully, stepped up. "Please forgive him for his lack of intelligence, he's a simple hired hand. I expected him to know the situation we were facing and did not explain it to him, but alas." Maybe he was not so thankful after all. This situation would be later fixed with a lot of bugging her. Maybe with literal bugs.

"Without a weapon?" The guardsman snarked, taunting cheekily. He was about to speak up but a stomp on his foot clammed his mouth shut.

"That just speaks of his skill, doesn't it?" Her pink eyes stared deeply into the ones of the guard, a smirk hidden behind a fan that she produced from… somewhere. One day, he swore, he was gonna learn where did the people in the video game world. He was gonna invent the inventory (heh) in real life, he swore.

The guardsman, a fairly tall and thin fellow, frowned, his hands not quite leaving his sword yet. "So, what are you here for, then?" He was about to answer again, but thought better of it this time. His daughter was clearly the one with the higher CHA stat.

"It appears that the Grimleal are not paying their dues to King Gangrel properly and thus, their presence is no longer appreciated. We ask that you rally the local militia to ensure that they are promptly dealt with." She spoke with a grace I had never seen, and it suddenly felt like she was in complete control of the conversation, not at all hiding the evil smirk on her face. She had both a sharp and silvery tongue. However, given the faces of the guards, it was clear that they had no intention of doing so. However…

"It would be a shame if any of the *civilians*" She dropped the word as if she had just suggested that they were lower than dirt. For all he knew, they were. "to get caught into the fighting because they didn't remain _where they should've been._ Oh well. One less village will definitely not be that much of an inconvenience." She made a hand motion to follow her as she started to leave, leaving him dumbfounded for a second before he hurried after her.

"H-hold on!" The tall one suddenly rushed after them. "W-we are going to rally everyone, just, don't torch the village! Come on, Jared!" He suddenly started pulling the other's arm and promptly hurried inside, the gates left wide open. One glance at her and wow the Rose he had known for approximately 10 minutes had returned. "Idiots." She scoffed. "We got lucky that these guys have no idea of the nonexistant noble system here. On that note…" she whirled around, facing him. "What the hell was that?! Do you think you can just waltz into a village full of _Grima faithful people_ and say that?!" Usually, she would've agreed with her; considering hindsight was 20/20 he could definitely see that what he had done was stupid. But…

"Back off! I had no idea that they're Grima faithfuls! How should I know who prays and doesn't pray to a giant chicken?! I barely got into this world half an hour ago!"

She stared at him in confusion. "But aren't you… hold on…" But she was interrupted by a figure behind her with a hat that looked slightly too big to be practical and two glasses that shone under the sun (somehow, whilst still being covered by the hat) coughing.

"Greetings, Rose. Francis." He nodded at her before doing the same to him. "I assume that the village being put under lockdown is you two's doing?"

Rose snorted at his demeanor. "Yes, hello to you too Laurent. A warmer greeting after four months I haven't seen you wouldn't hurt, you know." It was difficult to catch, but Laurent's mouth parted slightly in surprise. "So this is how it went…" he muttered to himself. "We shall speak later. I do believe you're having trouble facing the Grimleal?" they both nodded, because yes, they did.

"Very well. It is a good thing that I happened to be here at the time. I shall go pick up Amelia and then we'll get rid of this vermin. You can tell me your story later." And then he left.

"Amelia?" I asked Rose.

"His horse."

"Ah. Alright then."

"Well, that was underwhelming." Apparently, this truly was an Awakening fever dream, because after he ordered the militia to attack the grimleal they made short work of them, Nowi pelting them from the air with blasts of ice as Laurent spammed Elwind spells.

As always, camping + bait and switch proved to be the most fruitful strategy in Awakening. Hooray.

While him and Rose were casually loitering around (not exactly the truth, after they went to warn the village they asked for stuff they could use and got a brand new Rescue staff for their troubles that Rose was now twirling around like a majorette and a steel bow that Francis had no idea what to do with), they stomped through everybody else as they left the militia to deal with the rest of them. He was slightly sick from watching the battle happen right in front of his eyes, but then when the realization that he had just ordered the slaughter of a group of men and women settled in...

He... he caused this. But that was alright... this was a dream, right?

Not trusting his stomach to keep the lunch in if he kept staring at the battlefield, he forced himself to turn back towards his party (?) who were now resting, since most of the enemies were taken care of.

Lilina was chatting animatedly with the newly untransformed Nowi about how cool she was and she knew a manakete and she should totally meet Fae one day as the redheaded mercenary looked around warily at our surroundings, towering over the two little girls and daring anyone to come close.

"What now? Gregor suggests us make like trees and leaf." The unusually serious mercenary said. "One man and two little girls can't fight off entire army if they realize we scam and reinforcements come. Trust Gregor, he knows from experience. Little Flavia nearly lost arm that day." He rubbed his head sheepishly, before his stoic expression returned. Francis had to agree. It was good that they had managed to turn the tide of the battle so easily, but the risk kept exponentially increasing the more they stayed. Laurent nodded his approval of the plan as he kept opening his mouth before thinking better of it. Whatever he was about to say, he looked like he wouldn't be saying it until he was sure of an exact wording.

"Sure. Let's just get my brother from wherever he's gone and-" He was about to tell him that they should go find him, but suddenly all the grimleal started fleeing without an apparent reason (besides being slaughtered, but they looked content enough to fight back even with numbers waning).

"Was this a kill boss map?" he asked himself under his breath, confused. He knew that these kinds of maps existed in Fire emblem, but didn't think that they would actually happen.

"Well then." Francis said, blinking. Rose and Laurent were talking, though he couldn't make out what it was about. Gregor simply sat down in the sand, watching the scene unfolding while Nowi started some kind of victory dance. And Lilina…

"Where's Lilina?" I asked, looking around myself. The others also realized that we were down a member, when suddenly Rose gasped.

"Oh no…" she said, picking up what looked like a playing card.

"What's the matter?" I asked. She had in her hands a card that had a picture of Lilina on it, the same that Ni' used to summon Lilina. Was this an Einherjar card then?

"Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Let's hope I'm wrong." She suddenly dashed ahead, towards a village in the distance. Promising myself that before the end of this dream I was gonna have a little chat with my daughter, I followed hot on her heels. What had gotten her so riled up?

"Shit!" She screamed as we neared the oasis that… had been frozen. Was this a crossover between ATLA and Fire emblem now?

However, what he saw in the middle of the oasis chilled me more than the ice itself ever could and turned the whole dream into a nightmare.

A brown haired boy with green highlights lay there, unmoving, in the middle of the frozen oasis. **His brother.**

Francis ran like he had never ran before to go see what was going on with him. And then he saw his brother. Dear god, he saw him. In a moment, the amazing dream Francis had been having transformed into a nightmare.

A hole blown clean through Ni's chest, his heart missing. He wasn't even gasping for air as the blood pooled under him. Around him, bodies of Grimleals killed in… quite imaginative ways, he flinched as he saw those.

"Come on, you're fine right? It just looks worse than it does, doesn't it?" Francis asked his brother, a bit hysterically while he crouched down next to him, taking everything in. No response.

"Stop fucking with me!" he shouted, shaking his body. Nothing. Dead.

He began sobbing uncontrollably, his heart in tatters not unlike that of the body he was shaking. He tried to reign himself in, but he just couldn't. He had managed to deal with his brother simply disappearing into nowhere, at least there was a chance he could come back as he had. He could still trick himself into believing that he was not gone forever, and could just avoid thinking about it in the meantime. But this? To see his body so damaged, to see the life that had escaped his eyes, to hold him and not feel his breath or his pulse? It was just too much. He screamed. He cried. He hugged the body. He prayed. He got mad. Nothing however could bring his brother back from the dead.

Eventually, however, everything just seemed to go numb. As if on autopilot, he removed the shield from his back. He began removing the armor plate from the body. The chestplate looked as if it had been eaten by rust, only for said rust to advance onto his chest instead of the rest of the armor. Piece by piece, his armor was removed. It was not proper to be dressed like that when buried, especially because he didn't want his grave being robbed. He picked his body up and started moving him away from the oasis. Without... whatever he had done, it was beginning to melt. Water was already wetting his knees since he was kneeling, but frankly he didn't care. He picked his brother up bridal style, sweeping the bangs past his face. For all that most stories depicted dead people dying with a serene smile on their face, Ni' only looked surprised. He hadn't seen death coming. It had just happened.

He supposed he was mildly thankful that whatever had happened wasn't painful enough to twist his face in a grimace. He started carrying him, Rose and Laurent (had he followed them? He didn't know) trailing close behind, Rescue staff and tome in hand, though he couldn't see their faces and they talked in hushed whispers.

He didn't know for how long he walked, but eventually he managed to find a spot that his brain deemed appropriate. Setting down his brother's body into the sand, he walked a little bit more off to the left. Then, gripping the shield with both hands (it cut slightly into his phalanxes, one part of his mind screaming at him that it was unsanitary) and just started digging a hole with it. Rose and Laurent eventually left, and in their place a green haired man arrived, offering him a rag and just saying "I'm sorry." while he started digging with a shovel where Francis had been till a minute ago with his shield. He stared at him for a while. Finally, his brain managed to conjure up something that made a slight bit of sense.

"Why?" he croaked, his voice failing him.

"Son, I..." he sighed contemplatively, staring upwards. It was sundown. "I won't mince meat words. It was in part my fault that your friend died." Francis reared back as if struck. If stares alone could burn a hole through somebody (though now that he was in a magical world he wasn't sure that they _couldn't_ ) the guy's face would've exploded. The man flinched.

"H-hold on, let me finish!" He stammered out and if it wasn't for the fact that Francis wasn't a violent person by nature he would've gutted him then and there. "Brother." He snarled at him. "He was my brother."

"Ouch. I won't pretend to know how bad it feels." A hand was laid on his shoulder by the man. He tried shaking it off, but the grip only hardened. He turned to stare at him. "But whatever you do, whenever you feel like the burden is too big to bear, just think that he died like a hero." The man sat down, pressing onto his shoulders in a way that forced him to sit down grudgingly.

"Explain." He spat out with as much venom in his voice as he could muster up, though right now he just felt _tired._ The man recalled to him the story of how Ni' protected his niece when he wasn't corageous enough to do so himself.

At some point in the man's talking, Francis began laughing hysterically. A raised eyebrow from the man prompted an explaination as he continued digging.

"Ah, nothing. I just realized something very funny." At the man's silence, he continued. Francis grinned, knowing full well that he was having a nervous breakdown.

"Well, hahahaha" he began wheezing before managing to right himself. "I, ha" a pause "It's just that, I've been trying to convince myself that he had been dead all this time and when I finally managed to meet him again, he dies right in front of me, and I can't even blame anybody for it! It's just hilarious!" he tossed his head back, landing right next to his brother's body and just resumed laughing.

"Hahahahahahaha! Hahahaha... ha... *sob* Why... why did it happen?!" he began sobbing uncontrollably, pulling his knees to his chest as a hand handed on his shoulder as the boy was finally buried.

Many hours passed, people coming and going to mutter apologies for his loss and the like as he sat there by his tomb. He didn't care. Eventually, an unfamiliar redhead came to his side, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry for what happened. To be fair, I would've never expected the kid to kick the bucket like that." She said. He simply nodded in response.

"Us Annas know how hard it is to lose a family member. Is there anything that can be done to lessen the blow?" she asked, smiling at him. He couldn't see the magic gathering around her, she realized with some mirth. He scoffed.

"I just wish none of this ever happened..." he muttered sarcastically. The Anna's response was something that surprised him, however.

"That can be arranged." And then the world faded away.

 **So... yeah. That happened.**

 **I'm not sure if it is just some twisted kind of self-loathing that leads me to having all the bad things happen to my SI.**

 **What, exactly, is this chapter? It's my giving a decent ending to this story. Far too many errors that I've realized stacking up, making me end up disliking what I've written. It was a decent attempt for my first time, though.**

 **BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!**

 **ToS is my baby. Like hell I am letting it go like that. As of this very moment, I'm writing the newer, better chapter 1 of the rewrite of this fic. Just you wait for it!**

 **Some things are gonna change, some things will stay the same. My first attempt wasn't** _ **so**_ **bad that I need to start over completely from scratch, just re-do it better with the same idea. This fic will become as famous as Asleep, 'ttebayo!**

 **But yeah. It's been a fun ride, and I hope you guys aren't too mad at me. And if you are, you're free to come kick me in the nuts if you manage to find me.**

 **Until then, or until I post the new chapter, this has been, is, and will always be,**

 _ **The Otherwordly Soldier**_

 **Catch you on the other side of the void. Ninni51, out.** *drops mic*


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